MEXICO MINISTRY DENIES ACCUSING GOVERNOR IN REPORT

MEXICO CITY, - Mexico's government denied on
Wednesday it was the source of a newspaper report alleging that a
controversial state governor had millions of dollars in secret bank
accounts outside Mexico.

Mexico's El Universal daily ran a front-page story on Tuesday quoting
a government document that purportedly traced some $10 million in such
countries as Switzerland to Mario Villanueva Madrid, governor of
Quintana Roo state.

El Universal said the money had been siphoned out of political
donations to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and
placed in accounts belonging to Villanueva. The governor has also been
hounded by allegations of links to drug traffickers but has
steadfastly denied them.

Mexico's Interior Ministry said in a statement made public on
Wednesday that it never produced the report cited by El Universal.

"We would like to make clear that this ministry never produced any
such report with that kind of information," the ministry said.

El Universal stood by its story on Wednesday, saying in another
front-page article that it had confirmed the authenticity of the
document with several government officials.

The state government of Quintana Roo accused El Universal of carrying
out a "public lynching" of the governor.

The newspaper's "smear campaign against Governor Villanueva Madrid is
nothing more than a compendium of unfortunate tales and falsehoods,"
it said in a statement.

Quintana Roo state is known for sandy coastal beaches bordering
turquoise seas that scuba-diving enthusiasts consider some of the best
diving waters in the world. About 2 million tourists a year, mainly
Americans, visit the resort city of Cancun.

But anti-drug officials say Quintana Roo, with its long, cove-studded
shoreline, has also become a significant conduit for South American
cocaine being smuggled to the United States.