Raul Salinas

Raul Salinas de Gortari is the elder brother of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was the former President of Mexico from 1988 to 1994. Raul Salinas was arrested in February 1995 on suspicion of ordering the political murder of Jose Fransisco Ruiz Massieu. He was sentenced to 50 years in 1995. On 17 July 1999, an appeals court reduced the murder sentence by nearly half to 27 1/2 years. The  sentence was reduced because the prosecution failed to show any motive for Salinas to have committed the killing. 1 On June 14, 2005, he was acquitted and liberated with a posted bail of almost $3 million, pending accusations of corruption-related crimes. 2 He is accused of illicit enrichment and money laundering amounting to several millions, laundered with the assistance of high ranking officials at Citibank Mexico and New York. 

Citibank opened accounts for Salinas in May 1992 without inquiring about the sources of his wealth. Citibank went on to facilitated the laundering of money by setting up anonymous trusts, international business companies and secret accounts. Trocca Trust, registered in the Cayman Islands served as a shell corporation. Another shell corporation, Birchwood Heights, Ltd. managed Salinas real estate properties in the United States of America. Investment acounts were opened under Trocca in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Between 1992 and 1994 a total sum of $87 million was transfered into these accounts, of which $67 million went through Citibank's concentration accounts in Mexico and New York, and then to Trocca's London and Zurich investment accounts. 3

In total, it is alleged that more than $300 million was transfered from Mexico by or for Salinas. In Switzerland, deposits were made to Banque Pictet, Julius Baer bank, and Banque Edmond de Rothschild. 4 In November 1995, Salinas wife was arrested in Switzerland while trying to withdraw a large sum of money. Swiss authorities went on to freeze some $132 million, though they were unable to establish a case of money-laundering. 5 In July 1999, the highest court in Switzerland overturned the confiscation of more than $90 million. 6 Mexican authorities believe that some of the funds deposited in Switzerland and other countries were derived from corruption and from commissions that Raul collected from businessmen who won concessions and contracts from the government headed by his brother. 7  For sometime the money remained frozen in Swiss bank accounts while authorities in Mexico were investigating to establish the source. 8 In June 2008, Swiss authorities repatriated US $74 million to Mexico  from bank accounts linked with Raul Salinas. 9