El Chapo Guzman associate claims kingpin paid $100M bribe to former Mexican President

A witness has testified that former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto accepted a $100m bribe from drug cartel kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Mexican President Enrique Calderón denied that he ever received any payments. "The claims made by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's lawyer are absolutely false. Neither he nor the Sinaloa cartel nor anyone else made any payments to me," he wrote on Twitter.[Source:CNN]

Alex Cifuentes who says he was a close associate of Guzman for years, told a New York City courtroom that he had told authorities of the bribe in 2016.

Guzman is accused of being behind the Sinaloa drug cartel, which prosecutors say was the largest US drug supplier.

Peña Nieto served as the president of Mexico from 2012 to 2018.

El Chapo who has been on trial in Brooklyn since November after he was extradited from Mexico to face charges of trafficking cocaine, heroin and other drugs as leader of what the US has called the world's largest drug cartel.

The BBC reports that the former President of Mexico had requested $250m before settling on $100m.

[Source: BBC]