FORMER MEXICO OFFICIAL IS FREE ON $500,000 BAIL

A former Mexican deputy attorney general accused of laundering more than $9
million in drug money through a Houston bank has been released on bail, the
U.S. Marshals Service said Wednesday.

A U.S. Magistrate Court judge in New Jersey last week set bail at $500,000
on Mario Ruiz Massieu.

The U.S. Marshals Service said Ruiz Massieu is now responsible for reporting
to federal court in Houston. However, a court date had not yet been set as
of Wednesday.

"He is not being handled by us because he has made bond. He is on bond and
is responsible for transporting himself to the Southern District of Texas,"
U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Eric Wallenius said.

Wallenius said the Marshals Service was notified of his release on Wednesday.

Ruiz Massieu had been Mexico's top drug prosecutor under the administration
of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

But prosecutors here allege he accepted protection money from drug cartels
and used an intermediary to deposit the money in Texas Commerce Bank between
1993 and 1995.

He was first arrested in March 1995 as he was attempting to board a flight
to Madrid at the Newark International Airport. Customs officials said he
failed to declare $46,000 in cash, though that case was later dismissed.

Ruiz Massieu had been under house arrest at his Palisades Park, N.J., home
as he fought U.S. attempts to extradite him to Mexico, where is faces
embezzlement charges.

However, he was re-arrested last week after a 25-count federal indictment
charging him with money laundering was returned.

Ruiz Massieu is a member of a prominent Mexican political family and is the
highest ranking Mexican official ever implicated in such a scheme, U.S.
Customs Service officials said last week.

U.S. officials seized more than $9 million from what is now known as Chase
Bank of Texas more than three years ago.

In March 1997, a civil jury decided the government could keep $7.9 million
of the money and Ruiz Massieu $1.1 million. But U.S. District Judge Nancy
Atlas later ruled that the government could seize all $9 million. Her ruling
was upheld by a federal appellate court.