Former top Mexico security official found guilty of taking millions in bribes from cartel

Genaro Garcia Luna convicted of taking bribes from cartel once run by 'El Chapo'

A courtroom sketch of Mexico's former public security minister, Genaro Garcia Luna. Reuters

Genaro Garcia Luna, a former Mexican law enforcement official once in charge of his country's fight against drug traffickers, was convicted in the US on Tuesday of taking millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel.

Federal prosecutors in New York said Garcia Luna had accepted bribes from the cartel once run by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in exchange for protection from arrest, safe passage for cocaine shipments and tipoffs about law enforcement operations.

On its third day of deliberations, the jury found Garcia Luna guilty on all five counts he faced, which included continuing criminal enterprise and conspiracy to distribute cocaine in the US.

Garcia Luna, 54, is one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials ever accused of ties to drug trafficking. He led Mexico's Federal Investigation Agency — which is equivalent to the FBI — from 2001 to 2005 and was public security minister for six years until 2012.

He worked closely with US counter-narcotics and intelligence agencies as part of former president Felipe Calderon's crackdown on cartels.

Such a major part of Mr Calderon's crackdown was Garcia Luna that he was described as the J Edgar Hoover of Mexico.

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When he is sentenced on June 27, he faces a possible life prison sentence.

“Garcia Luna, who once stood at the pinnacle of law enforcement in Mexico, will now live the rest of his days having been revealed as a traitor to his country,” Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, said in a statement following the verdict.

Mexico, riddled with violent crime related to drug cartels for decades, ranked 124th out of 180 countries on Transparency International's 2021 corruption index.

The guilty verdict is seen by many in Mexico as a sign of the possible end of impunity for government officials accepting kickbacks and other perks from drug traffickers and other criminals — at least outside the country.

Cesar de Castro, a defence lawyer, told reporters Garcia Luna will “continue to do everything he can to clear his good name”.

“Mr Garcia Luna, his family and the defence team trusted in the process, trusted that the jury would see through the government's case,” Mr de Castro said outside the courthouse. “We are very disappointed that it did not, but we respect the jury's decision.”

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During a four-week trial, jurors heard from nine convicted cartel members who agreed to co-operate with prosecutors' investigation and testified about bribes Garcia Luna received.

Garcia Luna, who moved to the US after leaving office and was arrested in Texas in 2019, had pleaded not guilty.

His lawyers argued that prosecutors relied on inconsistent narratives from convicted violent criminals who were implicating him to get revenge on the man who arrested them, and in a bid to lower their US prison sentences.

Jesus Ramirez, a spokesman for current Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said in a tweet: “Justice has come for the former squire of Felipe Calderon. The crimes against our people will never be forgotten.”

Following Garcia Luna's arrest, Mr Calderon expressed profound shock and said he was unaware of the actions of his former security minister.

Guzman was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 following his conviction in Brooklyn on drug trafficking and murder conspiracy charges. He is at a high-security “Supermax” prison in Colorado.

Agencies contributed to this report