Vatican Indicts Ex-Bank Head For Embezzling 62 Million Dollars 

Vatican City: Vatican prosecutors have indicted the former president of the Vatican bank and his lawyer on embezzlement charges, holding them responsible for losses of more than 50 million euros (USD 62 million) from real estate sales.

The trial of Angelo Caloia and his lawyer is due to begin March 15. A third suspect died while under investigation.

The Institute for Religious Works said in a statement late yesterday that Caloia and his lawyer were charged with alleged acts of embezzlement and self-laundering between 2001 and 2008, when the bank disposed of "a considerable part of its real estate assets."

The IOR, as the bank is known, is joining a civil case alongside the criminal trial to try to recover some of the Vatican's losses.

Caloia and the lawyer deny wrongdoing. (AP)