The Legionaries of Christ managed income for education in tax havens

The Legionaries of Christ used tax havens to manage the entries of their educational service during the time of the founder Marcial Maciel and that some are still open, according to the international research "Papers of paradise", disseminated in Italy by L'Espresso newspaper.

Rome, Nov. 12 (EFE) .- The Legionaries of Christ used tax havens to manage the entries of their educational service during the era of the founder Marcial Maciel and that some They remain open, according to the international investigation "Papers of Paradise", broadcast in Italy by the newspaper L'Espresso.

In this regard, the spokesperson of the international office of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Aaron Smith, explained to Efe that all tax haven societies "have been closed".

The weekly L'Espresso dedicates today a new chapter to the Italians who have appeared in this international journalistic investigation (in which "El Confidencial" and La Sexta participate in Spain) and explains how the congregation, present throughout the world but with greater incidence in Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Italy, managed their income in tax havens since 1992.

According to the investigation, the founder of the Legion of Christ, the Mexican Marcial Maciel Degollado, created in Bermuda in 1992 the society "The Society for Better Education" with the advice of Appleby.

In November 1994, the "International Volunteer Services", also with the advice of Appleby, to "manage the millionaire income of its educational empire", assures the investigation.

They calculate that the flow of The entrance fee was about 300 million dollars per year and the money from both companies ends up feeding the trust fund Ecyph Limited, based in the British Virgin Islands.

In the records of Appleby, this entire financial network in tax havens is linked to the address: Via Aurelia 677, Rome, where the General Directorate of the Legionaries has its headquarters, adds "L'Espresso".

The investigations from the Vatican since Maciel before the accusations of sexual abuse and drug use end with the condemnation in 2006 of the then Pope Benedict XVI, his separation and the order of a profound revision of the congregation.

It was proven that Maciel, who died in 2008, committed sexual abuse against seminarians, had several children with different women and was a habitual consumer of drugs.

According to the new revelations, before being removed, on February 2, 2006, Maciel closes the first society in the Bermuda.

Only in 2010, when the congregation is intervened and Cardinal Velasio de Paolis appointed as manager, the second company is liquidated and the Islands fund is extinguished. Virgins.

The "papers of paradise" reveal that in a Citibank account in New York on behalf of the "International Volunteers Services" were authorized three people loyal to Maciel: the priest Jesus Quirce Andrés and the laity Mario Olivieri Sangiacomo and Javier Vargas Díez Barroso.

The spokesman for the Legionaries of Christ told Efe "that the two societies were created by Maciel and remained inactive for many years and were closed in 2006 and 2013 respectively "

" L'Espresso "reveals that the research also appears the name of an Italian lawyer Salvatore Trigila, who appears as liquidator of the Racebrook company based in the US state of Delaware, and to which the mansion in which he lived belonged. Maciel until his death.

Both Trigila and Sangiacomo continue to have a relationship in the management of Legionnaires affairs, says "L'Espresso".

EL spokesman for the Legionaries He confirmed to Efe that Trigila is still working in the legal office of the secular movement, Regnum Christi.

L'Espresso assures that the closing of companies in tax havens has not been completed and that in Panama there are still open societies in the 80s of the 20th century and others in Jersey.

There was also Interger, an investment fund in Luxembourg, open until 2015 and I manage up to 40 million euros.

In this regard, Smith noted that all these companies "were already closed."

The weekly appointment between Italians who have accounts in paradises prosecutors to the heirs of businessman Carmilo Crociani, and to others like Andrea Bonini and the Rovelli family.