Ex-Mexico Official Had $7 Million In U.S.

Mexican officials said on Tuesday that nearly $7 million had been found in American bank accounts in the name of a former government prosecutor who has been charged with a cover-up in his investigation into the murder of his brother, who was a governing-party leader.

The discovery of the accounts raised new questions about the possible motives of the former prosecutor, Mario Ruiz Massieu, who was arrested on Friday in Newark, N.J.

On Monday, the Mexican government charged Ruiz Massieu, 44, with intimidating witnesses and falsifying evidence to protect the man now accused of having ordered the slaying, Raul Salinas de Gortari. Salinas is the elder brother of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari.

Two officials familiar with the case said that there was some evidence that the money, which was found by U.S. Customs officials, might have come from Mexican drug traffickers.