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June 12, 2001

Narco News 2001

Carlos Menem Laundered

Money Through Citigroup

Mexico, June 13 (Notimex): The leader of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD, in its Spanish acronym) in the Mexican Congress, Senator Jesús Ortega Martínez, denounced that Carlos Saúl Menem, ex-president of Argentina (now under house arrest on arms trafficking charges), laundered money in subsidiaries of Citigroup, the institution that is trying to acquire Banamex.

During today's session, the legislator said that according to reports received from Argentina Senators and Congress members, Menem obtained large quantities of money from the trafficking arms to countries at war, funds that were deposited in banks that belong to Citigroup with the goal of "washing" them.

He assured that there are proofs of the participation of the banks belonging to Citigroup in the laundering of the money of Menem and his collaborators, and Ortega Martínez asked Mexican authorities to thoroughly analyze the proposal by Banamex to sell all its stocks to the United States institution.

Citibank, belonging to Citigroup - said the legislator - is under investigation by the United States Senate for laundering money from narco-trafficking and is investigated for the recommendation that the parent company, with its seat in New York, made to its Argentina subsidiary to receive deposits from the Mexican narco-trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes.

For the Senator, this situation must be analyzed in detail because if it doesn't take urgent and immediate action, Mexico could find itself in a situation similar to that of Argentina, in which the citizenry has lost faith and respect for the institutions because of the corruption fed by foreign credit institutions.

Ortega Martínez said that he knew that a California Congreswoman asked the Federal Reserve Board to suspend the merger of Citibank with the Travelers company, that at the time represented the most important deal in that country.

"I have presented diverse arguments and elements regarding the deal between Citigroup and Banamex and that has permitted that the theme of FOBAPROA and its possible implications of corruption in which government officials and bank owners could have participated is a theme that has revived among public opinion."

He added that all the accusations of corruption and money laundering that have been made against Citibank must not be forgotten: "We cannot permit them to be buried 40 feet underground. We cannot ignore all the crimes committed during the bank rescue in Mexico."

The Senator warned that if the illegality is not combatted, if the guilty parties are not punished and if the impunity is not ended, "we will be at risk that the same thing happens to our country as happened to Argentina's society, and Mexico will remain in a serious economic and moral crisis."

Meanwhile, as proposed by Ortega Martínez, the Joint Congressional Leadership Committee approved unanimously an agreement that the Congress will ask the IPAB fund for the purchasing contracts on the loan deals between FOBAPROA and the banks to verify whether any crime was committed during the bank bailout.

 

See Also:

Montesinos & Citigroup, Inc.

and

The Citibank-Salinas Story

What Dictator Hasn't Banked There?