FOLLOW THE MONEY

In Raul Salinas' Fortune Is Key To Mexico's Corruption

Swiss authorities have accused Raul Salinas de Gortari, the jailed
brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, of
being a major narcotics trafficker. The Swiss plan to confiscate more
than $100 million that Raul Salinas deposited in Swiss banks.

Mexican authorities say they will investigate whether Raul Salinas,
who is charged in Mexico with illegal enrichment and ordering the
murder of his own brother-in-law, was a drug king pin, but voiced
their doubts. However, if Salinas' ill-gotten gains did not come from
drug trafficking, perhaps it would not be too much to ask of Mexican
investigators to discover just where the money came from.

Salinas says the money was given to him by four Mexican businessmen to
invest, men who did not ask for a receipt. If that were the case, why
wasn't the money invested?

Perhaps the money came from the Mexican treasury. In Mexico, there's
no way of knowing, since legal payments to government officials are
kept secret and illegal bonuses and payoffs are not recorded.

Perhaps Salinas got his money by peddling influence in his brother's
administration. He would have had to peddle a lot of influence to earn
the $100 million on deposit in Switzerland and at least that much more
invested in dozens of real estate properties.

Getting to the bottom of Raul Salinas' finances is important for
reasons that go beyond satisfying curiosity and meting out justice to
a single corrupt politician. The charges against Salinas go to the
heart of corruption and mayhem that threaten to undermine Mexican
governance and turn the nation into a narco-state like Colombia.

A public determination of how Raul Salinas amassed his fortune would
go a long way toward identifying the problems that have kept Mexico
from assuming its rightful place among the prosperous and developed
nations. A diagram of Salinas' criminal career would suggest methods
of preventing such careers in the future.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry