Ex-President Salinas Sends Fax on Brother : Mexico: In a message to news organizations, the former leader breaks a long silence to say he was ‘amazed’ by allegations about Swiss bank accounts.

Former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari broke six months of silence Sunday to say that his elder brother “will have to explain clearly the amount and origin” of tens of millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts that prosecutors in Mexico and Switzerland have linked to him.

Denying any knowledge of the vast sums that authorities say Raul Salinas de Gortari, 49, amassed during the years he served as an appointed official before and during his brother’s six-year administration, the former president said he was “amazed” by the allegations made last week by prosecutors in Mexico City and Switzerland, where Raul Salinas’ wife was arrested Nov. 15 while trying to withdraw more than $83 million from a bank account in Geneva.

“If he committed crimes, he should be punished firmly by the appropriate authorities,” Salinas said of his brother in a statement faxed to news organizations in Mexico City and later confirmed as authentic by sources representing the former president here.

“During my presidency, I didn’t know about it. And [Raul’s] expression of sorrow for the family is correct. . . . We are very dismayed by these events.” But Salinas was not without sympathy for his jailed brother. “In spite of it, we express that our thoughts are with him.”

It is unknown where Salinas sent the one-page statement from, although it is believed he has been living in Canada. The former president has made no public comment since soon after he quietly slipped out of Mexico in March amid conflict with his handpicked successor, President Ernesto Zedillo. His faxes Sunday bore no return number.

Salinas’ departure came just weeks after his elder brother’s arrest Feb. 28 on charges of masterminding last year’s slaying of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party’s second-ranking official--a case in which the former president continued to insist Sunday that his brother is innocent.

Raul Salinas also has maintained his innocence in the murder case, and he said in a statement published here Saturday that the origin of the money in the Swiss bank accounts is both legitimate and unknown to his family.

Zedillo has not specifically cited the latest allegations against Raul Salinas. But in speeches over the weekend, he made clear reference to the case, declaring that his government is committed to punishing corrupt public officials.

Carlos Salinas, who left office a year ago, has not been charged with or linked to any crimes.