Spanish court provisionally releases former ally of Mexican president - source

A demonstrator poses for a photo with a Humberto Moreira effigy during a protest celebrating Moreira's arrest, at Ciudades hermanas square in Saltilllo, in Coahuila state, Mexico, January 16, 2016. REUTERS/Daniel Becerril

MADRID (Reuters) - Humberto Moreira, a former ally of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto who was detained in Spain last week in a money-laundering probe, was released from custody on Friday but ordered to remain in Spain, a High Court official said. "He was been freed on provisional measures that withhold his passport and prevent him leaving the country," the official said, on condition of anonymity. Moreira, who was chairman of Pena Nieto's PRI party in 2011 but stood down after a debt scandal was uncovered in his state of Coahuila, had been arrested at Madrid's international airport. Court sources told Reuters last week that he had been detained as part of an operation against money laundering and other crimes. The news website El Espanol reported this week that Spanish investigators suspected Moreira of links to a Mexican drug cartel, the Zetas. Asked by reporters as he left a prison in Madrid whether he denied any links with the Zetas, Moreira said: "Of course." "There's no news there," he added. Moreira has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to the debt scandal in Coahuila, of which he was governor at the time. (Reporting by Rodrigo de Miguel and Madrid TV; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Kevin Liffey)