The British Court of Appeal has ruled that financier Raffaele Mincione can proceed with a lawsuit against the Vatican Secretariat of State, in a case with important implications for the Vatican’s own financial-misconduct trial.

Mincione, who was a party to the London real-estate deal that is the focus of the Vatican trial, has sued the Secretariat of State over the deal. Mincione himself is a defendant in the Vatican trial, accused of embezzlement.

The British court ruled that because the contract between Mincione and the Vatican Secretariat of State was governed by English law, his case could proceed—with the Vatican required to bear the costs—without awaiting the result of the Vatican trial.