The Mother of All Mountains of Money | Zhenli Ye Gon Linked to HSBC

As a result of the efforts of Messrs. Retureta and Balarezo, all charges brought against Mr. Ye Gon by the government of the United States were dismissed with prejudice on August 28, 2009. — Wikipeda, «Zhenli Ye Gon»

Back in 2006 and 2007, we witnessed a jaw-dropping corruption saga in Mexico with the seizure by federal police of $205 million — in cash! –from the Mexico City home of Zhenli Ye Gon, accused by Mexican authorities of serving as a leading source of methamphetamine inputs in the hemisphere.

Ship it in from China, cook it in Juarez and shop it to the Hell’s Angels in Texas.

Previous posts, from a predecessor blog of mine. on the subject are here.

The naturalized Mexican citizen — his Wikipedia page proclaims his innocence — threatened to expose a money-laundering operation allegedly feeding the election coffers of the ruling PAN political party. At one time, a PAN senator was accused of having expedited his citizenship while serving as Secretary of the Interior, but nothing came of the charge.  El Chino now awaits trial in the U.S., followed by extradition to Mexico.

Mexican investigative journalist Carmen Aristegui  notes the link between this case and recent revelations of lax money-laundering enforcement by HSBC.

According to a report released on Tuesday by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Mexican Senate, HSBC executives allowed Ye Gon to maintain his accounts at the bank despite suspicions about the provenience of the funds.