If reports are true that Gloria and Mike Arroyo invested in the now-collapsed Lehman Brothers investment company to the tune of half-a-billion dollars or more, then the couple can be charged with laundering money in violation of international and American anti-laundering laws.

The United States federal government closed the Lehman Brothers after it was forced into bankruptcy and is in possession of all the investment firm’s financial records, including its lists of investors.

A former Mexican state governor and mayor of Cancun, Mexico, was recently extradited to the United States for alleged money laundering through Lehman Brothers and for receiving bribes in protecting drug cartels.

There are reports also that the First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and some military officers have been protecting illegal-drug syndicates operating in the Philippines. Allegations have surfaced also that the Philippines is being used as a trans-shipment port of illegal-drug “exports” to the United States.

While it is true that Mrs. Arroyo has congressional immunity while the House of Representatives is in session, Mike Arroyo does not enjoy any immunity at all. Besides, as former President Fidel V. Ramos notes, “Congressional immunity is good only against traffic tickets.” This precisely happened in the case of then Rep. Mark Jimenez, who was extradited to the United States and jailed in Miami, Florida, after he agreed to a plea bargain with federal authorities.

H ere are excerpts from the Los Angeles Times about the Mexican former governor and mayor, who is now in the custody of American federal officials:

Ex-Cancun mayor extradited to U.S. on drug charges

By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau

May 11, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The former mayor and governor of the popular Mexican resort area of Cancun was extradited to the United States to stand trial on allegations of pocketing millions of dollars in bribes to help a notorious drug cartel move more than 200 tons of cocaine across the border, Justice Department officials announced Monday.

Mario Ernesto Villanueva Madrid, dressed in a drab khaki jacket and slacks, was flown late Sunday night aboard a Drug Enforcement Administration jet to New York, where he also is charged with laundering millions of dollars through the now-bankrupt Lehman Bros. investment firm.

This time,

U.S. authorities are prosecuting a top government leader who officials say had his own police and state government workers help the Juarez cartel push cocaine into the United States.

"Today, the former governor of Quintana Roo [state] finally faces justice in an American courtroom," said U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara in New York.

John P. Gilbride, special agent-in-charge of the DEA in New York, said Villanueva Madrid "abused the trust placed in him by the citizens of Quintana Roo when he facilitated drug trafficking and money laundering across international borders." (Snipped) # # #