French newspaper says Noriega may face drug money trial

PARIS (Reuter) Panama's jailed former ruler Manuel Noriega could face trial
in absentia in Paris on charges of laundering drug trafficking money in
France, the daily Le Monde said Saturday.

It said that earlier this month an investigating magistrate had ended a probe
into Noriega's bank accounts in France, concluding that the money had ben
paid by the Medellin drug cartel. Noriega's lawyers denied the allegations.

Le Monde said magistrate Patrick Fievet had frozen the funds, worth tens of
millions of francs (millions of dollars), which were part of a money
laundering circuit going through London, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria.

The magistrate's conclusions were pased on to a French state prosecutor who
could order a trial. Le Monde's report could not be immediately confirmed by
legal officials.

Le Monde quoted Noriega's lawyers as saying they were writing to the Paris
state prosecutor to explain that the funds came from the sale of Noriega's
personal property and from fees received from the CIA.

Noriega, who was captured during the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, is now
serving a 40year prison sentence for his 1992 conviction on drug and
racketeering charges.