Swiss Allege Raul Salinas Is a Drug Kingpin

After the most extensive money-laundering investigation in Swiss history, officials on Tuesday publicly accused Raul Salinas de Gortari, brother of Mexico’s former president, of being a kingpin in the cocaine trade and pocketing at least $500 million in illicit profits.

Because of high-level aid and protection the now-imprisoned Salinas gave Colombia’s Cali and Medellin cartels during younger brother Carlos’ 1988-94 presidency, “tons of cocaine were able to pass through Mexico without being disturbed,” said Carla del Ponte, Switzerland’s federal prosecutor. The drugs then entered the United States.

“He was well paid to guarantee the security of multi-ton loads,” said Valentin Roschacher, head of the narcotics unit of the Swiss federal police.

Del Ponte said she signed an order Monday confiscating $114.4 million deposited by Raul Salinas with Swiss banks under half a dozen false names and that the funds already had been impounded. But the suspected money launderer will not be tried here, Del Ponte said, because he was not arrested in Switzerland. He has been jailed near Mexico City since 1995 pending the outcome of several trials.

The seizure was one of the most severe blows yet to the family of ex-President Salinas, who was once hailed by the U.S. government as a bold reformer but later fell into disgrace. Raul Salinas’ chief lawyer, Eduardo Luengo Creel, announced that he will appeal Del Ponte’s action. He lambasted the Swiss investigation, claiming it was intended to “present an image of Mexico internationally as a narco-state.” Salinas has repeatedly maintained his innocence.

But Mexican observers said the Swiss seizure will probably spur an investigation in Mexico that could have wide-ranging results.

“These are very serious charges another government is making,” said Jorge Castaneda, a political scientist. “The least one would expect of the [President Ernesto] Zedillo government is to carry out their own investigation on the basis of the evidence and investigation provided by the Swiss to see if it’s true or not.”

According to the Swiss investigation, which was conducted with the cooperation and assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Mexican officials, Interpol and other law enforcement agencies, Raul Salinas organized “green-light” days so drug shipments could freely transit Mexico.

He provided trucks and even railroad freight cars from state-owned enterprises to speed the illegal cargo, investigators said. Bribes were paid to cooperating members of the Mexican police and army, they said.

“He was a very powerful man,” Roschacher told a news conference in the Swiss capital. “With all his contacts and with [his] power, he could guarantee protection of those loads.”

Raul Salinas Named in Murder Case

In Mexico, Salinas stands accused of illegal enrichment and ordering the 1994 murder of brother-in-law Jose Francisco Ruiz Massieu, the former head of the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

According to Swiss officials, Mexican authorities also recently began investigating Salinas for alleged drug trafficking and money laundering. They apparently acted on the basis of the Swiss findings. The Mexicans have not yet pressed charges.

While the Swiss did not indict Salinas, their report painted a devastating picture of him as a key figure in Mexico’s growing role as a conduit for cocaine to the United States.

“According to conservative estimates, Raul Salinas has pocketed at least $500 million,” the offices of the Swiss attorney general and federal police said in a joint statement summarizing their investigation, which took nearly three years. The 230-page final report was not made public.

After younger brother Carlos became president in 1988, the Swiss agencies said, Raul “took control of practically all drug shipments transiting Mexico.” At first, he allegedly was paid $300,000 per load. Then he began demanding and getting a cut of 30% to 40% of the narcotics’ value, the Swiss investigation claims.

Through roundabout channels designed to disguise the money’s origin, the officials said, much of the money found its way to Swiss banks.

Swiss officials insisted that former President Salinas, who now lives in self-imposed exile abroad, was not a target of their investigation. Many in Mexico and elsewhere are skeptical that Raul Salinas could have wielded such enormous influence without, at the very least, his brother’s knowledge.

Carlos Salinas has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Seventy-eight people, including members of the two Colombian cartels and Mexican drug dealers, were interviewed by the Swiss during three trips to Mexico and the United States. Some potential witnesses were killed or disappeared, Swiss officials said. Others are in witness protection programs in the United States.

Raul Salinas’ lawyers protested that the case was plagued with errors that magnified his wealth and false testimony that tarred not only Salinas but many prominent Mexican politicians.

Luengo Creel, the chief lawyer, charged that the witnesses made up accusations in order to earn money or reduce their prison sentences.

“These fabrications were made years after the witnesses had been detained and some of them even sentenced,” Luengo Creel told a news conference in Mexico City. “They made new declarations when such statements were requested from them. . . . In their initial declarations, they never mentioned Raul Salinas.”

The lawyers also provided snippets of testimony from several witnesses in the Swiss investigation who claimed drug traffickers received assistance not only from Raul Salinas but from leading Mexican politicians, army generals and the PRI.

“If we believe what they affirm about Raul, we must also accept the accusations against all these institutions and people,” said Luengo Creel, warning that the Mexican government itself is under fire.

Mexican critics also have objected to the Swiss procedure, under which the names of 16 of the witnesses were not made public.

Salinas’ attorneys maintained that the money in the Swiss accounts was an investment fund he managed for friends. They said contributors included prominent Mexican businessmen Carlos Hank Rhon; Roberto Gonzalez Barrera, chairman of Gruma, a tortilla giant; and Carlos Peralta, top shareholder in the cellular-phone company Iusacell, who has acknowledged giving Salinas about $50 million to invest.

The Swiss officials said Salinas moved his money using half a dozen phony names and forged passports. They added that Salinas, whom they interviewed four times in prison, gave “threadbare and rather implausible” explanations of why he used secretive channels to send his money to Switzerland.

Swiss Investigation Unprecedented

Del Ponte said Raul Salinas would have 10 days to challenge her order confiscating his assets. Of the disputed funds, $24.5 million is being managed by a Swiss financial institution in London, the attorney general said, adding that she requested cooperation from British authorities to seize it.

Swiss officials said the seizure was the largest ever ordered by federal authorities and that the investigation was unprecedented in its scope.

To launder such large quantities of money, Salinas “resorted to compliant banks in Mexico for help,” the Swiss found.

Roschacher, who headed the three-man Swiss investigating team, said witnesses alleged that Raul Salinas was paid “a two-digit amount in the millions of dollars” authorized by the head of the Cali cartel, Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela.

The probe also found he had a close business arrangement with the Medellin cartel, headed by the late Pablo Escobar.

The Mexican’s troubles in Switzerland began in November 1995 when his wife, Paulina Castanon, was detained with her brother as she tried to withdraw money from a secret account at the Bank Pictet in Geneva that Raul Salinas controlled under an assumed name.

Charges against the two were dropped because it was not proved they knew they were dealing with the proceeds of narcotics deals, Del Ponte said.

Dahlburg reported from Bern and Sheridan from Mexico City.