VATICAN CITY — A Vatican monsignor already on trial for allegedly plotting to smuggle $26 million from Switzerland to Italy was ordered arrested in a separate case today for allegedly using his Vatican bank accounts to launder money.

The financial police in the southern city of Salerno said Monsignor Nunzio Scarano’s accounts had been used to transfer millions of dollars in fictitious donations from offshore companies. Police said millions have been seized and that other arrest warrants were issued.

Scarano’s lawyer, Silverio Sica, said his client merely took donations from people he thought were acting in good faith to fund a home for the terminally ill. He conceded that the money ended up being used to pay off Scarano’s mortgage, however.

“We continue to strongly maintain the good faith of Don Nunzio Scarano and his absolute certainty that the money came from legitimate donations,” Sica told The Associated Press.

The Salerno investigation was already under way when Scarano was arrested in June in Rome on separate accusations.