Pubdate: Sun, 28 Dec 2003 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: E. Eduardo Castillo, Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/mexico Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1480/a08.html Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2104/a02.html CARDINAL CLEARED OF MONEY-LAUNDERING MEXICO CITY - Mexico dropped a money-laundering probe against a Roman Catholic cardinal, one of a handful of clerics overseeing Vatican finances, officials said Friday. The government pursued the investigation after a former attorney general alleged that Cardinal Juan Sandoval of Guadalajara or his subordinates may have accepted donations from drug traffickers. Deputy Attorney General Jose Vasconcelos said Friday that investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing. ''It has been concluded that there's nothing to support the accusations of money-laundering, use of illicit funds and tax fraud,'' Vasconcelos said at a press conference. He said similar allegations against attorney Jose Antonio Ortega and Jose Maria Guardia, a horse- and dog-track owner friendly with Sandoval, were also unfounded. Former Mexican Attorney General Jorge Carpizo alleged that three churches and a center for migrants in Ciudad Juarez were financed with illicit funds while Sandoval worked there. Sandoval denied the allegations and called the inquiry an attempt to silence his criticism of the investigation of the 1993 shooting death of his predecessor, Cardinal Juan Jess Posadas Ocampo. Sandoval has long maintained that Posadas was killed to conceal ties between drug traffickers and government and that investigators covered up the matter. Carpizo's investigation had concluded that Posadas was killed by accident during a showdown between drug traffickers. The charges against Sandoval threatened to reopen a long-running rift between the church and the government. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin