Diego Maradona's doctor says he has 'nothing to hide' as police raid his home and surgery

Leopoldo Luque denies negligence after prosecutors open investigation into superstar's death

Police officers guard the building where Leopoldo Luque, the personal doctor of late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona, has his office, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Reuters

Members of the Argentine Police carry items during a raid at the office of the private physician of Diego Maradona, in Buenos Aires. EPA

Argentinian Police is investigating the death of Diego Maradona as possible case of involuntary manslaughter. EPA

Members of the Argentinian Police outside the office of Diego Maradona's personal doctor, in Buenos Aires. EPA

Police stand outside the home of late Argentine football legend Diego Maradona's doctor, Leopoldo Luque, as it is being searched. AFP

Leopoldo Luque, doctor and friend of Diego Maradona, and his wife Romina at their private home in Adrogue, Argentina. EPA

Leopoldo Luque, Diego Maradona's doctor and whose office and house were raided on the same day. EPA

Leopoldo Luque, doctor and friend of Diego Maradona, speaks at a press conference, at his private home in Adrogue, Argentina. EPA

Leopoldo Luque, doctor and friend of Diego Maradona, insists he is innocent of causing the Argentina football legend's death by 'possibly negligence'. EPA

Leopoldo Luque, doctor and friend of Diego Maradona, insists he is innocent of causing the Argentina football legend's death by 'possibly negligence'. EPA

Diego Maradona shaking hands with his doctor Leopoldo Luque in Olivos, Buenos Aires province, shortly before his release from the clinic following brain surgery, on November 11. AFP

Leopoldo Luque, Diego Maradona's doctor, said he did "everything he could" for the former football World Cup winner, who died of a heart attack last week.

Earlier in the day prosecutors in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, said they were investigating Dr Luque, 39, while Argentinian television showed police raiding the doctor's surgery and home.

The investigation was opened after Maradona's daughters Dalma, Gianinna and Jana expressed concerns over the treatment he received for his heart condition at his home in Tigre, judicial sources told AFP.

Later in the day, Dr Luque, who is no relation to Maradona's former Argentina teammate of the same name, gave an emotional televised conference.

"You want to know what I am responsible for?" he asked between sobs.

"For having loved him, for having taken care of him, for having extended his life, for having improved it to the end.

"He should have gone to a rehabilitation centre. He didn't want to. I am the person who has been taking care of him.

"I'm proud of everything I've done. I have nothing to hide. I am at the disposal of justice."

Maradona's lawyer, Matias Morla, has called for an investigation into claims that ambulances took more than half an hour to reach his house in response to an emergency call on the day of his death.

A preliminary post-mortem examination report established that the cause of death for the 60-year-old was "acute lung oedema and chronic heart failure".

Toxicology reports are still to be filed.

Maradona died of a heart attack on Wednesday aged 60, and was buried on Thursday at the Jardin de Paz cemetery on the outskirts of the Argentine capital.

"Our investigations are ongoing, we are talking to witnesses including members of the family" of Maradona, a source close to the San Isidro inquiry said.

"The clinic had recommended that he go elsewhere to be hospitalised, but the family decided otherwise. His daughters signed for him to be discharged from the hospital," said a family member, on the condition of anonymity.

Luque said he did not know why there was no defibrillator in case of a heart attack in Maradona's home in Tigre, and made clear that the home care was not his responsibility.

"I am a neurosurgeon," said Luque.

Luque said an ambulance should have been parked outside.

"A psychiatrist had asked that there should always be an ambulance in front of his house. I don't know who is responsible for the fact that there was no ambulance," Luque said.

Diego "was very sad, he wanted to be alone, and it's not because he didn't love his daughters, his family, or those around him," Luque added. "He was brave."

A judicial source told AFP that no official complaint has yet been filed.

A preliminary autopsy report established that Maradona died in his sleep at noon on Wednesday of "acute lung oedema and chronic heart failure".

The prosecutor's office is awaiting the results of toxicological tests on Maradona's body. The three prosecutors working on the case have requested his medical records, as well as recordings from neighbourhood security cameras.