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Roberto Calvi (13 April 1920 – 17 June 1982) was an Italian banker dubbed "God's Banker" ((イタリア語:Banchiere di Dio)) by the press because of his close association with the Holy See. A native of Milan, Calvi was Chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed in one of modern Italy's biggest political scandals. His death in London in June 1982 is a source of enduring controversy and was ruled a murder after two coroner's inquests and an independent investigation. In Rome, in June 2007, five people were acquitted of the murder. Claims have been made that factors in Calvi's death were the Vatican Bank, Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder; the Mafia, which may have used Banco Ambrosiano for money laundering; and the Propaganda Due or P2 clandestine Masonic Lodge. ==The Banco Ambrosiano scandal== Roberto Calvi was the chairman of Italy's second largest private bank, Banco Ambrosiano, when it went bankrupt in 1982. In 1978, the Bank of Italy produced a report on the ''Banco Ambrosiano'', which found that several billion lire had been exported illegally, leading to criminal investigations. In 1981, Calvi was tried, given a four-year suspended sentence and fined $19.8 million for transferring $27 million out of the country in violation of Italian currency laws. He was released on bail pending appeal and kept his position at the bank. During his short spell in jail, he attempted suicide. Calvi's family maintains that he was manipulated by others and was innocent of the crimes attributed to him.〔See: Robert Hutchison's ''Their Kingdom Come: Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei'', 1997〕 The controversy surrounding Calvi's dealings at Banco Ambrosiano echoed a previous scandal in 1974, when the Holy See lost an estimated $30 million upon the collapse of the Franklin National Bank, owned by the Sicilian-born financier Michele Sindona. Bad loans and foreign currency transactions led to the collapse of the bank. Sindona later died in prison after drinking coffee laced with cyanide.〔 On 5 June 1982, two weeks before the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, Calvi wrote a letter of warning to Pope John Paul II, stating that such a forthcoming event would “provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the Church will suffer the gravest damage."〔(Plea to Pope from 'God's banker' revealed as murder trial begins ), The Times, October 6, 2005〕 Banco Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982 following the discovery of debts (according to various sources) between 700 million and 1.5 billion US dollars. Much of the money had been siphoned off via the Vatican Bank (strictly named the ''Istituto per le Opere Religiose'' or Institute for Works of Religion), which owned 10% of Banco Ambrosiano, and was their main shareholder. In 1984, the Vatican Bank agreed to pay US$224 million to the 120 creditors of the failed Banco Ambrosiano as a “recognition of moral involvement” in the bank's collapse.〔(Obituary Archbishop Paul Marcinkus ), The Times, February 22, 2006〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roberto Calvi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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