A former close aide to drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has testified that Mexico's ex-President Enrique Peña Nieto had once accepted a bribe to the tune of USD 100 million from the suspected drug lord in October 2012.
Alex Cifuentes, Chapo's ex-secretary and close aide, made the shocking revelations while testifying before a Brooklyn Federal court on Tuesday (local time), reports CNN.
Furthermore, Cifuentes stated that the bribe was given to ensure that Chapo could "continue working". However, during the course of Tuesday's testimony, he also clarified that he was "confused" about the exact amount of bribe paid to Nieto.
Nieto is the former President of Mexico, who held office from 2012 to 2018. In fact, Nieto was the President-elect during October 2012, the period during which the alleged transaction was undertaken.
The ex-aide's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, has previously made statements implicating the former President, with the last one made during November's hearing, which were outrightly refuted by Nieto's office.
Lichtman claimed that former Presidents of Mexico, including Nieto, have "received hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from his (Chapo's) organization."
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Labelling the accusations as "false", a spokesperson for the former President said, "The government of Enrique Peña Nieto persecuted, captured, and extradited the criminal Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo). The accusations made by his lawyer are completely false and defamatory."
Cifuentes was extradited to the United States after being arrested in Mexico in 2013. He has pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking and is currently in a cooperation agreement with the US.
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