Raúl Salinas de Gortari

For the mayor of Laredo, Texas, see Raul G. Salinas.

Raúl Salinas de Gortari (born August 24, 1946[1]) is a Mexican businessman who spent ten years in prison accused of the murder of his brother-in-law, but was acquitted in 2005.[2] He is the brother of former President of Mexico Carlos Salinas

Alleged money laundering

In November, 1995, Raúl Salinas's wife, Paulina Castañón and his brother-in-law, Antonio Castañón were arrested in Geneva, Switzerland after attempting to withdraw $84 million USD from an account owned by Raúl under an alias. Their capture led to the unveiling of a vast fortune spread around the world and summing to hundreds of millions of dollars even though he never officially received an annual income of more than $190,000. A report by the US General Accounting Office indicated that Raúl Salinas transferred over $90 million out of Mexico and into private bank accounts in London and Switzerland, through a complex set of transactions between 1992 and 1994, all with the help of Citibank and its affiliates.[3]

In 2008, the government of Switzerland turned over $74 million out of the $110 million in frozen bank accounts held by Raúl Salinas, to the government of Mexico. The Swiss Justice Ministry indicated that the Mexican government had demonstrated that $66 million of the funds had been misappropriated, and the funds, with interest, were returned to Mexico. The bank accounts were held at Pictet & Cie, Citibank Zurich, Julius Baer Bank, and Banque privée Edmond de Rothschild in Geneva and Zurich.[4][5][6]

Other funds were returned to third parties, including Mexican billionaire Carlos Peralta Quintero, who had given the funds to Raúl Salinas to set up an investment company. The Salinas family would not receive back any of the frozen funds.[2]

On December 6, 2004, Enrique Salinas de Gortari, the brother of Raúl Salinas de Gortari, was found dead in his car after apparently having been beaten and strangled. Prosecutors said that Enrique Salinas had been sought for questioning by French police regarding his financial transactions with Raúl Salinas. However, investigators indicated that they thought the killing was a botched extortion attempt on him.[7][8]

References

  1. ↑ Ortiz Pinchetti, Francisco (March 6, 1995). "Juntos crecieron, juntos jugaron, juntos viajaron, juntos paladearon la gloria; hoy, Raúl y Carlos Salinas encaran el naufragio". Proceso (in Spanish) (957): 21.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Salinas funds finally head back to Mexico". swissinfo (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation). 18 June 2008. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  3. ↑ United States General Accounting Office (October 1998). "PRIVATE BANKING: Raul Salinas, Citibank, and Alleged Money Laundering" (PDF).
  4. ↑ Rodriguez Reyna, Ignacio. "He put his trust in Switzerland and Citibank". Frontline. PBS.
  5. ↑ David C. Jordan (1999). Drug Politics: Dirty Money and Democracies. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8061-3174-0.
  6. ↑ "Switzerland's 12-Year Probe of Salinas Ends with $74 Million Payment" (PDF). Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.
  7. ↑ McKinley, James C., Jr. (December 10, 2004). "Salinas Killing Deepens the Family's Drama". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Dellios, Hugh (December 16, 2004). "Scent of a conspiracy bedevils Mexico murder". Chicago Tribune.

Oppenheimer, Andres. Bordering on Chaos. New York: Little, Brown, 1996. ISBN 0-316-65095-1

External links