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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2005 
Salinas Free But Still Facing Legal Problems
 John Authers & Martin Arnold - The Financial Times
| | Raúl Salinas embraces his wife, Paulina Castañón at their house on Tuesday, after being released from jail in the early hours of the morning (Photo: Lucia Godinez/El Universal) |
Raúl Salinas de Gortari, the brother of former President Carlos Salinas, was released from prison early yesterday after a court cleared him of masterminding the murder of his former brother-in-law.
However, his legal troubles are still not over: he is now facing a summons to appear in a French court later this year to defend himself against money-laundering charges.
Salinas had spent more than 10 years in prison and was released once his family had raised bail of almost US3 million to cover the continuing investigation against him in Mexico on charges of illicit enrichment. The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) alleged that his release had been negotiated between the Salinas family and President Vicente Fox, while Pablo Gómez, its leader in Congress, described the family as a "mafia." The presidency firmly denied these charges.
Salinas's niece, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, a congresswoman who is also the daughter of his alleged victim, José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, said she was delighted by the decision and that her uncle had been treated unjustly. The government has already acceded to her demand to reopen the investigation into her father's murder.
Paradoxically, however, the Paris prosecutor's office told the Financial Times that Salinas's release made it easier to proceed with its case against him, as until then he would have been unable to attend a trial to defend himself.
However, French judges are not optimistic that Salinas will come voluntarily to France to defend himself and risk finding himself back in a cell. They said an Interpol arrest warrant had already been issued for him but that Mexico was not expected to extradite one of its nationals, especially the brother of a former president. If necessary, he could be tried in his absence.
Henri Pons, the French investigative magistrate, said he filed a report to the Paris prosecutor at the start of this year, after a nine-year inquiry. He concluded that there was enough evidence to proceed with a court case against Salinas and his brother Enrique, who was murdered last year during an apparent attempt by Mexican federal agents to extort money from him in connection with the French investigation, and against Enrique's former wife Adriana Lagarde, for laundering money in France. They are alleged to have used the French bank accounts of Lagarde, who used to live in Paris but now lives in Mexico, to launder money paid to them as commission by drug traffickers.
The money ended in Switzerland, where more than US100 million remains frozen in bank accounts under the control of Salinas and his family. However, a Swiss investigating magistrate decided in 2002 that there was insufficient evidence to attempt to try Salinas for money laundering, after a seven-year investigation. It is unclear why the French authorities believe they have a better chance of making the case. The maximum penalty is 10 years.
Salinas denies any involvement with drug trafficking. |
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