Jesús Zambada García, nicknamed the “King” Zambada, will be “the substantial cooperating witness” of the US Prosecutor’s Office with which the drug trafficking accusation against the former Secretary of Public Security of Mexico, Genaro García Luna, will be closed, according to a document of the defense of the former official to whom he had access HIGH LEVEL.
On Sunday, in a five-paragraph letter to Judge Brian M. Cogan, Cesar de Castro, García Luna’s defense attorney mentioned the prosecutors’ star witness, although his name appears censored with a black line. However, there is an error in the testing, because by entering the text of the letter in an internet translator, censorship is eliminated, revealing that the declarer will be Jesus “Rey” Zambada Garcia.
Brother of Ismael Mario Zambada, alias “Mayo” Zambada, the “King” is a drug trafficker who was arrested in Mexico in 2008, and extradited to the United States in 2012, where he immediately agreed to cooperate with the Department of Justice of that country. In fact, he was also the star prosecution witness in the trial against Joaquín Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo” Guzmán.
It was precisely in that criminal process in which the “King” Zambada claimed to have personally bribed Genaro García Luna, in a meeting in which he would have given him a portfolio with three million dollars, while in another meeting the amount of the bribe would have been between 3 and 5 million dollars.
In other words, the Prosecutor’s Office is playing its last card with a weighty witness who will directly accuse García Luna, corroborating the accusation that he would have been bribed by drug cartels in Mexico.
READ: The last letter of the USA vs. García Luna: He will present a relevant witness and evidence of his wealth
Agreements of the “King” with the Prosecutor’s Office
The letter from García Luna’s defense to Judge Brian Cogan is for him to resolve the prosecution’s refusal to provide details of the agreements reached by “King” Zambada with the United States authorities.
According to the document signed by Cesar de Castro, US prosecutors have interviewed “King” Zambada on more than 100 occasions, highlighting 18 meetings held between 2022 and so far in 2023.
In accordance with the United States Code of Procedure, the Prosecutor’s Office must provide the defense with the notes of these interviews, but -in this case- the lawyer complains, the prosecutors have only provided him with two pages “related to 2 of those 18 meetings (one in November 2022 and the other on January 17, 2023)”.
De Castro points out that “the government only produced notes of 3 meetings with the witness since the arrest of Mr. García Luna in 2019”, despite the fact that “King” Zambada has met with US officials on 47 other occasions, without that there is information regarding the agreement with the drug trafficker.
“Therefore, based on government disclosures to date, their next witness appears to have met with them 47 times without a single note being taken by prosecutors, agents, or paralegals,” the defender quips.
The purpose of this letter from the defense of the former Mexican official is to obtain the notes of the meetings of the Prosecutor’s Office with the “King” Zambada, in order to try to discredit his testimony, presuming that the criminal testifies against García Luna only because he has been benefited by prosecutors.
Declarations of the “King” of 2018
In his deposition against the former head of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI), scheduled for this Monday, Jesús Zambada García will have to reiterate what he already said in the trial in which “Chapo” Guzmán was convicted.
When also being questioned before Judge Brian M. Cogan, on November 20, 2018, “Rey” Zambada explained that, together with his brother’s lawyer, “Mayo” Zambada, he met Genaro García Luna in a restaurant where he gave him a bribe of 3 million dollars.
Later, in another meeting, the “King” would have given the former Secretary of Public Security another lie of between 3 and 5 million dollars, as can be read in the following transcript of the testimony given by the drug trafficker in the trial against Guzmán Loera.
The behind-the-scenes litigation
Between Saturday and Sunday, both García Luna’s defense and the prosecutors have sent various documents to the judge, as part of the last preparations for the next sessions of the trial.
It will be this week when the United States Attorney closes its arguments against the former Mexican public servant, who is still deciding whether to take the stand to testify. In this sense, his defense tried, without success, to limit the questioning that the prosecutors could do to García Luna, if his testimony was confirmed.
However, Judge Brian M. Cogan responded that the only thing that cannot be mentioned is the wealth acquired by the politician after 2012, after he left the Mexican government, so the prosecution can question the former secretary on any other issue. of the Mexican state.
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surya palaces Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal analysis and human rights. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.