Moreira cleared of accusations of having links with Los Zetas

Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz ordered the release of Humbero Moreira, former governor of Coahuila, after his attorney, Manuel Ollé, presented a document issued by Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) that exonerates Moreira of any involvement with the cartel of Los Zetas and laundering drug trafficking money.

Moreira was being kept at Madrid's Soto del Real prison.

In the document, dated November 12, 2014, Ciro Osvaldo Hurtado Mendoza, prosecutor of the PGR's Unit Specialized in Investigations of Operations with Illegal Proceeds, dismissed an anonymous complaint filed by e-mail against Moreira accusing him of "drug trafficking, protecting the Zetas, nepotism and embezzlement."

According to the anonymous complaint obtained by EL UNIVERSAL "Humberto Moreira allowed Los Zetas to establish more than 400 stores that sold drugs and alcohol in Saltillo and the metropolitan area, 240 in Piedras Negras, 100 in Acuña and 80 in the region known as Cinco Manantiales."

The document also accused him of illicit enrichment and lists some of the alleged purchases made by him between 2008 and 2010 such as "an executive Lear jet valued in US$4.5 million, the construction of a tourist complex in Aspen, Colorado; industrial warehouses north of Coahuila, ranches and lands in industrial areas and a house in San Antonio, Texas, worth US$56 million."

Hurtado Mendoza dismissed the case because of lack of evidence.

Spain's anti-corruption prosecutor accused Moreira of making transfers for 200,000 euros in 2013 to three bank accounts in Spain through which he could be laundering money from drug trafficking. However, the document and proofs presented by Ollé justified the origin of the money: two companies owned by Moreira.

The prosecutor has up to five working days to appeal the release order. If it does not appeal it, the case would be dismissed.

For the time being Moreira is staying at a Madrid hotel “happy and thankful for the support received," said sources close to former governor, and he said he will continue to study in Spain.