MEXICO CITY, SEPT. 23, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Mexican President Vicente Fox promised that an investigation into money-laundering allegations against Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez would be carried out fairly.
Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, archbishop of Guadalajara, met with Fox on Sunday at the presidential ranch in the state of Guanajuato. Two weeks ago it became public that Mexico’s attorney general’s office initiated an investigation against the cardinal.
«Included in the president’s promise is an investigation to the end,» the cardinal said in statements to the press.
During the meeting, Fox said that the investigation «must keep to the law in regard to the accused, the accusers and the authorities, as in no case will impunity be favored nor the re-establishment of privileged courts,» affirmed a statement issued Monday by the Mexican presidency.
In a television interview, Attorney General Rafael Macedo said that the meeting between the cardinal and president does not mean that the attorney general’s office will not carry out the investigation.
The investigation, which includes three other people, started following the accusation of money laundering leveled by Jorge Carpizo, who 10 years ago was an official in the attorney general’s Office and was involved in the investigation of the assassination of Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo, Cardinal Sandoval’s predecessor.
«All the bishops, and of course their servant, totally support the cardinal and believe he is innocent,» the archbishop primate of Mexico, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, said during a press interview.
«We simply request that Mexican law be followed in all the proceedings,» he said. «I am sure that they will not find anything» of which to accuse the cardinal.
«After the investigation, when it is seen that the crime mentioned is not there, I think that, on the contrary, the Church will benefit from it,» he added.
