A Colombian drug trafficker testified that Mexican cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman boasted about paying a $100 million bribe to the former president of Mexico, VOA news reports.
Alex Cifuentes spoke about the alleged bribe to President Ernesto Pena Nieto during his testimony Wednesday in Guzman’s trial in New York.
Cifuentes first spoke with prosecutors about the bribery allegation when he began cooperating with U.S. authorities in 2016.
A spokesman for Nieto called the bribery claim “false and defamatory” when it first came up earlier in the trial. Nieto left office last year.
Under questioning from Guzman’s lawyer, Cifuentes said he wasn’t sure exactly what year the bribe was delivered.
Ciefuentes has testified that he lived with Guzman for a period of time at one of the kingpin’s hideaways in Mexico.