OTHERS

CARLOS HANK ROHN

[He is a Mexican billionaire businessman who owns majority shares in the
Laredo National Bank in Laredo, Texas.The Hank family was publicly linked
to drug trafficking after a U.S. government raw intelligence report about
the family was leaked to the press.]

What happened? Is it because you had this relationship with Raul Salinas,
or your father had this relationship with the Salinas family in general?
That's where this all started?

I think that's where it started. I had been in relation with the Fed, I've
been the owner of the bank for many years. But I think they began to get
worried about me owning a bank because of this problem, you know? And I
guess it's everything together--knowing my father working for Salinas,
myself being a friend of Carlos Salinas and Raul Salinas. So in the
beginning, I understood why they were worried, because they say, well, they
heard this in the press, Raul Salinas is in jail in Mexico because they
think he killed he somebody and he embezzled some money. Also up till now,
fortunately for him, they haven't been able to prove anything. But anyway,
at that time it was a big issue.

So I understood why they wanted to know a little bit more about me, why
they were worried. Also up till now, fortunately for him, they haven't been
able to prove anything. But anyway, at that time it was a big issue. So I
understood why they wanted to know a little bit more about me, why they
were worried. But then, when they began asking questions and then began
implying that I had done some illicit things, then I began to get worried
and to get mad, because I mean, I knew how I was, and they were getting a
picture of myself that was completely different...

But your involvement, I mean your name really had never surfaced before,
until the Citibank bank account of Raul Salinas. I guess maybe if you could
explain how you came to be at Citibank and then why you brought Raul there?

...I introduced Raul Salinas to Citibank, it was one of those things that
we were having breakfast together and he asked me, "Where do you bank--with
which banks do you bank in Mexico and outside?" And I told him about
Citibank. So he said, "Well, I would like to meet with them, if you don't
mind." So one day we came together, by coincidence, to New York, and I
introduced Raul to the people in Citibank.

The story is that you helped open the account by giving him a check, or by--

To be honest, I don't know exactly how he opened the account. There is what
you call a trust . . . made by Raul Salinas, where he gathered some money
from different friends of [his] or different businesspeople, to do business
in the future, after his brother was in office--after he left the office. I
don't know exactly how he opened the account, [how] he used the money, if
he used a different money. That's what they say, but I couldn't--

But then did you give him some money?

Yes. I did. I invested with him, like, $9,000,000... His idea was to make a
fund to develop new businesses. He invited--I couldn't tell you exactly how
many people, but around 10 people--to invest in the fund that he was going
to manage and promote after his brother left the office of the Presidency.
Why did I invest with him? Because I thought it was a good investment. They
had very good contacts, they're very bright people. So that was the reason.

Was there a contract or a receipt or some kind of agreement?

No. It was just a conversation and an idea that he was developing. Probably
sounds a little bit strange in the States, a fund of that kind of
management. But in Mexico it's not so unheard of, no? Once you get a close
relationship with someone in business or in family, some of the deals are
done without even signing papers.

Were the families close? I mean, did you grow up together?

I met Carlos Salinas in preparatory, high school-- the last years of high
school. We were probably, what? 18. No, probably less. Like 15 or so. And
we went to the same preparatory school in Mexico. I was in the same year as
Carlos. Raul was a year above us. And then we were together again in the
university. In the university, [I was] more with Raul, because Raul was
studying engineering, the same as I did, and Carlos was studying economy.
So yeah, we are friends for many years.

It's been published that some of the money you sent to him, you sent in one
of his aliases that he was using in one of his accounts. Was that unusual?
I mean, it appears unusual.

Well, the idea was that he was going to have a fund, so it was kind of
sending the money to one account that I didn't even know to whom it
belonged...

So the idea was that after Carlos left office, he would in some way,
because he was then a private individual, he would be able to use his
prestige, as well as with his brother, to make more money.

I think so.

And the idea of sending money to an alias didn't bother you?

Well, at that time, I didn't know it was an alias. I thought it was
somebody that he was using for the fund. So at that time, it didn't bother
me...

So you don't believe that any of this money that Raul accumulated was drug
money?

I don't. I mean, I don't-- I couldn't swear. But I don't believe so.

Because?

Well, from my point of view, if you can make money legally, if you're a
smart guy, you live much happier than trying to do it other ways. If you
cannot, well, probably there's some guys that are prepared to do it that
way. But I know that Raul and Carlos are bright people. They understand
business and politics very well. So I really wouldn't see any need for
doing something illegal...

Where would they come from?

It's difficult. And I think I told you, the last time we met, that it has
been really difficult for me to find out where do they come from, because
as you can imagine, I am very worried and disappointed and angry at these
things. But I haven't been able to find where do they come from.

Because with this thing, I think, like about two years, in our holidays, we
were talking to someone. I really did a lot of thinking. I [said], "Jesus,
did I do something really wrong? I mean, I don't think so, but am I wrong
and trying not to accept something that I did?" And to be honest, I came to
the conclusion that it was the wrong perception that I had to fight. But I
am very at ease with myself, very sure that I have done nothing wrong...

Recently the Federal Election Commission fined Gary Jacobs and the Bank.

Yes.

For what, and why?

I think he gave money to the Republican Party that probably he shouldn't
given, or the amount was a little more than what he was allowed, something
like that. And they were fined.

As I understand it, he gave money, and then he was reimbursed by the Bank.

I think so. Yes.

Which technically, since you're the main owner of the Bank, would have you
giving a contribution, you know, indirectly.

Yeah, I check it out, because it also worried me, and I wasn't aware of it
in detail. But apparently, no, I didn't give any authorization. And what
the lawyers believe is that that has nothing to do with me...

If you have a difficulty it's that, in the American idiom, where there's so
much smoke, people will say there must be fire.

Yeah. We have a similar saying...

And in my contacts with law enforcement people in purposes of research,
they say to me, "You don't have this many coincidences of informants coming
forward and saying, 'There's drug money here, there's drug connection here,
the name is connected to it in some fashion.' There must be something."

I'm completely sure there's nothing in my case, but as I told you, I mean
people sometimes say things that they cannot prove and it's very difficult
to stop them.

PBS Frontline Series Follow Up by Tom O'Connell, Kevin Zeese, Doug McVay,
and Eric Sterling:
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2000/ds00.n170.html#sec1

Campaign for the Restoration & Regulation of Hemp's HempTV website has the
full, two part, total of almost 4 hours of video of the PBS Frontline "Drug
Wars" available on the web for free video streaming using the Real Player 8.

To watch Part one of Drug Wars, go here:

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/docs_drugwars1.html

To see part 2, go here:

http://www.crrh.org/hemptv/docs_drugwars2.html

Click this link for an index to this series:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n1551.a01.html