MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s first lady announced late Tuesday she was putting her multi-million-dollar private mansion on sale to end a controversy over her purchase of the property from a government contractor.
Pushing back at suggestions of a conflict of interest, Angelica Rivera issued a video on her website to say she had bought the house with her earnings from her days as a popular soap opera star.
Criticism of the mansion in a posh Mexico City neighbourhood has been an extra headache for President Enrique Pena Nieto, already struggling with protests over the government’s handling of the presumed massacre of 43 college students.
“In the face of accusations that have put my honour in doubt, I want to make it clear before all Mexicans that I have nothing to hide, that I have worked all my life and that thanks to that I am an independent woman,” Rivera said. “I have always acted with integrity,” she said, adding that she had declared nearly $10m in revenue in 2010. AFP
