By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — One of the principal figures in the Vatican’s bungled London real estate venture says the Holy See would have turned a profit on its valuable investment if it hadn’t pulled its money out of a fund prematurely. Raffaele Mincione is a London-based fund manager and he broke nearly two years of silence in testifying Monday before the Vatican’s criminal court. Prosecutors have charged Mincione and nine other people with fraud, embezzlement and other crimes, accusing brokers and Vatican officials of swindling the Holy See out of tens of millions of euros in commissions and then extorting the Vatican for 15 million euros to get control of the London property. Mincione and the others deny wrongdoing.