A former deputy secretary of state in the Vatican and nine others were yesterday found guilty in the enclave’s biggest financial corruption scandal.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Vatican employees and two outside Italian brokers were among 10 defendants described by prosecutors as “actors in a rotten predatory and lucrative system.”

Becciu, the highest ranking Vatican-based church official to be charged with financial crimes, was handed a jail term of five and a half years.

They were found guilty of embezzlement, corruption, abuse of office, fraud, witness tampering and extortion – with the trial revolving mostly around a luxury building in Chelsea.

Becciu was the pope’s chief of staff, serving as a key diplomat between 2011 and 2018.

They had been implicated in the purchasing of a showroom in London‘s Sloane Square formally used by Harrods, which was bought for €140m more than its market value – defrauding the Vatican.

The two-year-long trial, led by jury president and former anti-mafia prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone, centered on the management of the funds of the secretariat of state and the sale of a property on London’s Sloane Avenue paid for with donation funds.

The former Harrods showroom was bought for €350m (£300m), while the real value was just €210m (£180m). The botched real estate deal defrauded the Vatican and caused a €140m loss (£120m).

This landmark probe exposed the Vatican’s financial dysfunction and was considered an indication of Pope Francis’ desire to fix the money mismanagement.

The scandal was exposed by Italian journalist Massimiliano Coccia, prompting Pope Francis to fire Becciu in 2020.

Becciu subsequently filed a defamation suit against Mr Coccia alleging that his ruined reputation had crushed his chances of becoming pope.

An Italian civil court recently dismissed the suit and awarded costs against Becciu.