(21 Jul 1998) Italian/Nat
Forensic experts in Rome will on Tuesday begin re-examining the clothes of drowned banker Roberto Calvi, whose body was found in the Thames in London in 1982.
Scientists at the University of Rome will carry out the tests aimed at establishing whether Calvi - who became known as 'God's Banker' because of his Vatican links - killed himself or was murdered.
A British coroner recorded an open verdict on the death at the time, but new evidence has recently come to light that Calvi may have been murdered by the Sicilian Mafia.
Roberto Calvi's body was found beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge in 1982.
A British coroner's open verdict left the mystery of Calvi's death unresolved.
But last April new evidence came to light after a Sicilian mafiose imprisoned in Britain for drug trafficking told magistrates that he had been asked to punish the banker for squandering Mafia assets.
Calvi moved in powerful circles in Italy, and thanks to his Vatican contacts was known as God's Banker.
He was the chairman of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest bank.
He had arrived in London just days before his death, after fleeing in great secrecy across Europe.
The bank had crashed spectacularly with massive debts concealed in a web of fraudulent operations.
Now, a new investigation on Tuesday aims to find out whether Calvi stuffed his own pockets with bricks before hanging himself beneath the bridge - or whether someone else did it for him.
Official reports do not show whether Calvi was conscious at the time of his death.
Investigating Judge Otello Lupacchini has appointed pathologists to look for signs of Calvi's physical state immediately before his death.
SOUNDBITE: (Italian)
"It should consist of the clothes that Calvi was wearing the day of his death and other personal effects found on the body and in the hotel room where Calvi passed his last days".
SUPERCAPTION: Preliminary Inquiries Judge Otello Lupacchini
The tests are just the first stage - Calvi's body will be exhumed in September.
Lupacchini says only then, when it's clear whether there's fresh evidence, could a new trial be held.
SOUNDBITE: (Italian)
"Before declaring the case closed or suggesting new theories during the trial we need to be certain, within the possibilities of the scientific instruments at our disposal, about how Calvi died: if he committed suicide or if he's been murdered."
SUPERCAPTION: Preliminary Inquiries Judge Otello Lupacchini
Investigators now hope to find new evidence that will end the 15-year-old mystery.
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