Swiss returning Raul Salinas funds to Mexico

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, June 19 (Reuters) - Switzerland, keen to shed its lingering image as a haven for dirty money, is returning to Mexico $74 million stashed abroad by Raul Salinas, brother of the former president, authorities said on Thursday.

"These funds belong to the (Mexican) state because they have been misappropriated. The money will be returned soon," said Folco Galli, spokesman of the Swiss federal office of justice.

Lengthy investigations by Swiss and Mexican judicial authorities to trace the funds frozen since late 1995 had demonstrated "the clearly criminal origin of these assets", a statement from the Swiss justice authorities said.

But Swiss authorities said the investigation had not established a link between the public funds and drug-smuggling.

A further $36 million has been unfrozen and so made available to the unnamed account holder, after authorities determined that these funds were not of illicit origin, it said.

The decision ends the long-running Swiss case involving $110 million blocked in Switzerland, Britain and other European countries, according to judicial sources. A Citibank (C.N) account in Britain was among them.

WITHDRAWAL