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