Mexican drug importer had no problema with Fox

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The story of Zhenli Ye Gon, the Chinese-Mexican fugitive who left $207 million in alleged drug cash in his Mexico City mansion, continues to unfold in the Mexican press.

Ye Gon is wanted for importing large amounts of pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in cold medicines, to make methamphetamine for drug traffickers. His lawyers held a press conference last week in Washington D.C. that the Mexican media largely judged to be a bust. The lawyers had said they would give reporters videos and audio recordings implicating Mexican government officials in Ye Gon’s activities, but in the end produced nada.

This week, however, the Mexico City investigative magazine Proceso dedicated its cover story to the case. The expose documents how the large amounts of pseudoephedrine being exported to Mexico came to the attention of the U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board, which raised repeated concerns with the government of President Vicente Fox. At the same time, Ye Gon was having no trouble getting government permission to import the drug, despite numerous irregularities and allegations of fraud. Proceso says its investigation shows how a ‘web of protection’ shielded Ye Gon from prosecution.

Posted by Hector Tobar in Mexico City