Conor and Davide looked at each other. There was little to say.
Caterina broke down after they left but not for long. She was going to show them, whatever it took.
Thursday, Parioli
Reaching Parioli wasn’t easy. It was not far as the crow might fly. In the early evening Roman rush hour it was the worst trip across the city yet. Eventually they were near where Severino lived and was under house arrest.
Conor and Davide talked more about what Inma and Miriam had recounted. When asked, Conor agreed that on today’s evidence they seemed pretty much in the clear and he intending asking Paulino formally to request da Ferraz to let them go. He had changed the passwords, effectively taking control over their accounts. Possibly he should not have done this without agreement from on high. Too bad.
“Do you know when your boss will be in Rome?”
“Possibly late tomorrow or Saturday. He’s trying to clear time. That’s why I was pushing Caterina.”
“You were kind of hard on her.”
“Yes, and you brought her down with quite a thump about the back door.”
“You think so? I thought I was only stating the obvious, what she would have thought through in due course. You were worse; almost cruel.”
“Too bad. That lady increasingly gets on my nerves.”
“I sympathise. I feel the same. But it was an impressive find. Don’t underestimate what it must have taken.”
“All right. Now, about Severino. You listen and I will ask the questions.”
They approached the address given and talked with the Carabiniere. They were expected. He showed them to the door and used the entry phone to call Michele to say that he had visitors.
“Somebody, at last,” was all Conor could hear.
“He seems suitably softened up. Let’s go see.”
They walked upstairs and found Michele Severino at his front door waiting for them.
“Who are you?”
“Conor Laoghaire, from Interpol. My colleague here is Davide Shape. We’re investigating a possible misdirection of funds from the so-called Santofonino or HolyPhone.”
“What? The police? And not even Italian, never mind the Vatican’s own gendamerie. To whom are you responsible?”
“You have no right to ask and we are not obliged to answer. If you prefer we go, we will.
“On the other hand we already know much and expect to know more by the end of this week. You have the opportunity now to assist us but you are under no obligation to say anything. If you do cooperate it is more likely that you will obtain a less harsh judgement.
“We are already aware that your co-conspirators include Noach Weizmann, Miriam Smith and the Condesa Inmaculada Concepción de Arenas de Ávila. We know that you met in Israel three weeks ago and in Spain last weekend. We understand you have responsibility for the Santofonino payments systems, including all liaisons with banks, credit card companies and the like. Aware that we know all this, are you now prepared to reconsider cooperating with us?”
Michele put his head in his hands. It looked like the game was over. Clearly Interpol couldn’t know everything if they wanted to ask him questions. Perhaps there was still a chance that he could get himself off the hook and even keep the apartment in Chicago.
Michele paused before simply saying, “Okay.”
“Thank you, Monsignore. My colleague will take notes. Please describe how the Santofonino payment system works, how the monies flow into the Roman Catholic Church, how the fraud you perpetrated works, and what was in it for you?”
Michele started talking. He explained how he had been brought from the States to Rome because of his banking experience. New York was where he originally met Miriam with whom he worked. He said nothing about them being more than co-workers. He detailed how payments for sins were passed from the Call Centre systems to a special payments system, which connected to the global finance system and how, in each country, a minimum of three banks were involved to ensure propriety as well as provide competitive pricing to the Vatican.
Once a payment was approved for charging to an account, then the agreed amount was passed from the bank owning the customer to the acquiring bank, which in turn deposited the money into a Vatican account at each acquiring bank. Because these acquiring banks were all top tier and reputable, there was no issue with acceptability as had previously affected the Vatican’s dealings through the IOR or Vatican Bank, which had been blacklisted.
He went on, discussing how monies were paid out from each account in each country in part to that country’s clergy and in part to wherever else the Vatican chose.
“Why did you adopt the Vatican scudo?”
“This was adopted for currency hedging purposes, if you understand what I mean. By creating the scudo as our own virtual currency and transferring in dollars, pounds, euros and so on, we tried to ensure we minimised currency losses. Yes, this might mean we lost out on gains but it was to prevent losses.”
“So how did you divert what you took?”
Michele thought. They know a lot but not all. Maybe I do have that chance and I can blame Noach — if they have not gotten to him first.
“You must understand that my primary role was in the processing of monies after they were sent to the Vatican’s bank accounts. As you have probably guessed, and you are right if you have, I brought in Noach Weizmann to do the actual automated processing from our Vatican payment system out into the global financial network. I put together the banking arrangements to deal with the monies once they reached us. He put together the computers, though these had to conform to rules that the Vatican laid out. It was Weizmann who suggested that we take a tiny percentage for ourselves and who enabled this. What none of us expected was that the HolyPhone would succeed as it has. Indeed we’ve been reducing the percentage we take because we didn’t want it to become so large it was noticed.”
Michele looked at Conor and Davide to see if his little misrepresentations were being accepted. Unable to tell, he continued.
“I never quite understood how Weizmann obtained what he redirected. My first touch was when the money came into an additional account at each of the acquirers, which seemingly was just another Vatican account even though it was controlled by me. Just like the funds going out locally to dioceses and archdioceses, these went out first to another local bank and from there to a respectable bank in another country, and from there to a less inquisitive bank in that same second country.”
“Can you give us an example?”
“Yes. Money collected, say, in Canada by the Royal Bank of Canada might be transferred to the Bank of Nova Scotia. When the latter received this it would, on a weekly basis, aggregate and transfer it to, say, a major bank in Spain, Switzerland or Germany, which in turn would transfer it to one of several accounts in Andorra for Spain, Liechtenstein for Switzerland or Austria for Germany. This provided a clear trail until the last step. We relied on the fact that Spanish and French bankers knew their Andorran counter-parties. The same was true for Swiss bankers with the Liechtenstein ones, etc. It would be hard to set this up today but when we started it was straightforward to transfer from a reputable tier one Swiss bank as source to a less reputable or lower tier one in Liechtenstein. Because we began early enough, long-standing movements and arrangements were grandfathered plus all the banks loved the regular fees that had to be paid, by the Vatican they thought.
“Once the monies were in a lower tier bank with less onerous oversight they could be paid out without any questions. This was easy. The payees were respectable. For example, monies were going to a verified Opus Dei account in Spain or to my account at the Vatican Bank. For Miriam Smith it was an intra-bank transfer to an account set up by me back in a reputable top tier Swiss bank, with both her and me as authorised signatories. That top tier bank accepted transfers from their Liechtenstein colleagues without question. The same was basically true for Weizmann. We could then transfer what we liked where we liked. Bankers are always greedy fo
r income.”
“So what was in it for you?”
Michele thanked his foresight and what he had invented in Tel Aviv for Miriam and Inma. He explained about losing his pension with the Lehman collapse and how one of the lesser known consequences of the abuse of children by priests’ scandal in the US was the many payoffs to the abused were funded by bishops raiding diocesan pension funds.
“To lose one pension was bad enough. The idea of having this happen again was too much. This is what started me. With the HolyPhone being so successful it didn’t take me long to establish a new private pension pot. Once I had more than I could likely need I set up two different charitable investment funds. One takes part of what you might call my share and contributes to where our church has to make pay-offs for the behaviour of its priests but seems to be doing this by raiding the pension funds for the innocent ones. In some small way I am trying to reduce the risk that these innocents are penalised for the sins of their colleagues. The second fund is more open and I planned to give from this to whatever purpose I saw fit. I can show you the details of these funds if it will help you, and me.”
Michele looked at his inquisitors intently. They were giving nothing away.
“Monsignore, may we go back to the processing? What we don’t understand is how Mr Weizmann performed the misdirection. Can you be more specific? But before we do this, are you prepared to make your all financial records available to us and return your ill-gotten gains to the Vatican?”
Internally Michele sighed. These two weren’t going to leave him be. He was going to have to take a risk if he was to keep that apartment. Deliberately he had separated wholly the apartment purchase from his other private affairs. It should be possible to keep it.
“Yes, I will.”
He continued …
Saturday, Monteverde
Inma and Miriam were bored. They had spent Friday morning being lazy and catching up on much needed sleep. The past week had been an emotional rollercoaster. They were cooped up wondering what was happening and when their surveillance might relax. Plus room service lacked choice. If only Conor, or someone, would put them out of their misery.
Their one excursion yesterday had been for lunch followed by more shopping. This time they had focused as much on Miriam as on Inma though it was Miriam who had to take the lead. Inma simply did not know how to buy clothes or shoes or even make-up. Three hours later both had complete new wardrobes, courtesy of Inma’s credit card, which she seemed only too happy to wield for them both. As she put it over lunch, with Opus Dei now behind her, this left her with a more than healthy bank balance, which she previously had had little cause to use for personal pleasure.
Miriam had again queried her about breaking with Opus. Inma was convincing. It had been good for her in the past but now it was not. End of subject, though she volunteered that the moment which crystallised the change had been that moment when Miriam had so delicately removed her cilice on Sunday afternoon. They paused, thinking back and to what followed.
Miriam was now the proud possessor of two very smart Italian suits with skirt lengths that showed off her legs to perfection. In flat shoes she looked business-like. In high heels those same suits just oozed sex appeal. She wondered how the designers could accomplish this.
In contrast, Inma had bought differently, helped by some wise shop assistants in stores that had prices to devastate. That same firm, voluptuous shape that continued to fascinate Miriam as she explored its nakedness was not so accommodating when trying to satisfy the modern trend for slimness. In some really expensive dresses and skirts she looked almost fat, a point that the sales assistants assured was not true.
The answer came in the shape of exquisitely-tailored trousers and trouser suits accompanied by mid-height heels. The effect was to make her taller, which acted to mask her rich figure. In some ways, they agreed, this was a shame. As Miriam pointed out, however, this meant that she could at least go to work without being in a brown sack. In Madrid there would be more choices.
They revisited lingerie stores and bought more luxuries, including one outrageously short mini-dress for Inma. This, by mutual consent, could not be for public consumption and should only be for their private enjoyment. Curiously, unlike all the other dresses that had not complemented her, this made her shine. At Miriam’s insistence they bought discreet exercise clothes and running shoes, which they had used back at the hotel. But going to this hotel’s gym was dull as well as unpleasant. It was filled with lascivious-eyed middle-aged businessmen trying not to gawp too obviously. They had surrendered after half an hour and retreated to the suite to focus on Inma’s toning exercises. As Miriam was discovering these were hard. They did add variety as well as some laughs as Miriam attempted contortions that Inma had practised for years.
Now it was Saturday morning. Inma tugged the bedclothes off Miriam at what seemed to Miriam a most unreasonable hour.
“Remember, we have permission to go for a run in the park around the Villa Borghese. We mustn’t keep our guardians waiting.”
“What time is it, you monster of an ex-Opus Dei haridan?”
Miriam was barely awake and didn’t want to be. Somehow jetlag had reasserted itself a week late.
“Just after eight. Our guides will be ready at nine. You need to prepare.”
She shoved Miriam inelegantly off the bed. Indignantly Miriam headed for the bathroom.
At nine they opened the door. Their customary morning guardian was there but dressed normally, certainly not for any exercise. He greeted them with the surprising news that they would not need to be accompanied but were requested to return by midday.
Inma and Miriam stared at him and then at each other before heading to the stairs and leaving the hotel via taxi for the Porta Pinciana.
Only when they were in the park alone did they speak.
“Perhaps, Miriam, this means what we want. Could it be?”
“It must be, though it’s also true that they still have our passports, so we couldn’t exactly disappear in these clothes, even with your credit card.”
“True, but perhaps we might go home soon. I like Rome but I would rather be home. Oooh, that sounds sickly!”
“Yes and yes. Anyhow, let’s jog gently to start with. Shall we head up to the Villa itself and then see what we find? Afterwards we might head over to the other side where the smart area of Rome is apparently.”
“You mean Parioli? That is where Opus has its Roman headquarters, in Viale Bruno Buozzi. I never visited. It might be kind of interesting to see from the outside.”
“To wave goodbye?”
“You could put it like that.”
Speaking in that light tone convinced Miriam that Inma was serious. She had wondered if anyone could change so dramatically in such a short time and remain that way. Apparently Inma could.
Saturday, Vatican
Caterina hummed to herself. She was happy with neither Conor nor Davide there to bug her. Better still she thought she was making progress.
Yesterday her software had flagged that strange ‘deposit for rental of apartment’ receipt in one of Severino’s bank accounts, now that he had granted access. It had also flagged up its reversal a week later but her intuition told her she should tell Conor, who followed it up and discovered the priest had been what a British civil servant visiting Australia had called ‘economical with the truth’, a phrase that had always stuck in her throat for its malign deception.
Now Caterina was onto something even better. The records for Thursday, Friday and today from the back door had shown that at one each morning some remote system inserted a simple text file. The first time she looked at the contents they meant nothing. But comparing the three examples she now had Caterina could see there were minor differences in the numbers. She still did not know what they meant but she had the feeling that if she didn’t think too directly at the problem then something would eventually drop out. This was a technique that often worked for her.
Meanw
hile she had been able to track the IP address of the originating connection. Unfortunately that only led to a Milan-based remote IP and VPN service with little chance of any information being obtainable from there. Probably it was just another remote hop paid for by some means that effectively hid the real user. She flagged this on her increasingly long list of items to remember.
She hesitated. The possibility that Conor had discussed about playing with exchange rates seemed so plausible. It had effectively been confirmed by the ladies and later Severino. She wondered how you would do that.
Taking the first of the text files Caterina replicated what had happened when it originally arrived on the main VCCC payments processor but this time on the system for South America (which she had dubbed LATAM) sitting in front of her. She watched, using various software tools previously installed, to see if anything altered. Nothing was apparent.
Should she apply the second text file? She debated with herself, running through various scenarios. On balance she decided to, because LATAM was not yet a fully functioning replica of the working system. That would only occur with time as more and more past transactions were processed.
Using the same mechanism via the software back door Caterina repeated the submission process with the second file, repeating what she had done with the first. Still nothing. She decided not to try the third, at least not yet.
According to her watch it was a little after midday. Time for a break? But that would mean leaving this complex, which was a bore. There were so many corridors to navigate.
Her eyes returned to her screen. It was telling her something. Something had changed. Now Caterina had to find out what and whether it was because of what she had entered or because of something else. Difficult.
Two hours later she felt triumphant. She had, she thought, cracked two different problems, or at least found her way deeper into understanding what LATAM did. What she discovered was that the text file was processed by several different applications, at least one of which dealt with the scudo exchange rate, and another with the processing of credit and debit card payments.
The HolyPhone Confessional Crisis Page 35
