Source: Irish Independent (Ireland) Contact: http://www.independent.ie/ Pubdate: 21 Sep 1998 Author: Sam Smyth FORMER PRESIDENT PROBED ON MEXICAN DRUG RING SWISS police have questioned the role of Carlos Salinas, a former president of Mexico now exiled in Dublin, in a $500m pay off for arranging safe passage of tons of cocaine destined for the US. A secret report leaked to the New York Times, says Swiss federal investigators were unable to determine conclusively the involvement of the former president. However, the 369-page report adds: ``We have to seriously question the probability that a person with as much power as the President of Mexico for years did not learn about criminal activities of this extent, even if his brother was heavily involved.'' Carlos Salinas has always vehemently denied any involvement, but the latest bombshell could make life even more difficult for the former president who settled in Ireland 30 months ago. On Saturday, the Irish Independent magazine revealed that Carlos Salinas is living with his wife in Dalkey, and the birth of a son here in April automatically grants the child Irish citizenship. Salinas, who was president from 1988 to December 1994, left Mexico in March 1995 when his brother Raul was arrested on suspicion of arranging a murder of a rival politician and of inexplicably acquiring more than IEP120m when he was employed in a state job to which his brother, the president, had appointed him. In November 1995, Paulina Castanon, Raul Salinas third wife, was arrested as she tried to retrieve false passports to which her husband's photograph was attached, from a safe-deposit box. The arrest led to an investigation by Swiss federal police and their report concluded that Raul Salinas played a central role in Mexico's billion dollar cocaine trade. ``When Carlos Salinas de Gotari became president of Mexico in 1988, Raul Salinas de Gotari assumed control over practically all drug shipments through Mexico,'' the report states. The report states that from his low-profile job in the Mexican government's food distribution agency, Raul Salinas commandeered government trucks and railroad cars to haul cocaine north, taking pay-offs that the Swiss estimate at more than $500m. Some 90 former drug traffickers, reputed to be associates of Raul Salinas, and other witnesses, were interviewed in the course of the investigation. Swiss officials say they expect the report to be the basis for their government's seizure in the coming weeks of more than $130m deposited by Raul Salinas in Swiss banks. Lawyers for Raul Salinas, who has been held in a maximum security prison in Mexico for more than three years, dismissed the report last weekend as the slanderous product of a Swiss crusade to confiscate what they insist is a fortune that their client earned by legitimate means. ``The report is absolutely false,'' said Raul Salinas' attorney. ``It contains statements, assertions and situations that do not correspond with the facts.'' The Swiss investigators' report says they were unable to determine conclusively what involvement the former president, his father and other family members might have had in the purportedly illicit activities of Raul Salinas. The report did not look further into the family involvement because they were irrelevant to their inquiry into whether Raul Salinas' bank deposits in Switzerland came from illegal activities. When Carlos Salinas' term as president ended, his successor, Ernesto Zedillo, broke a long tradition that gave immunity to prosecution for presidents and their families. - --- Checked-by: Pat Dolan