The daughter of Joaquín Guzmán, Rosa Isela Guzmán Ortiz, has claimed that the drug lord paid politicians to facilitate his jailbreak from the Altiplano federal prison in July 2015.

Guzmán was recaptured and brought back to Altiplano in January of this year. The Sinaloa Cartel leader has complained of being tortured by prison guards and has demanded a faster extradition to the United States.

Rosa Isela Guzmán Ortiz, who claims to be the eldest daughter of Guzmán and is now residing in California, said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian that the drug kingpin illegally funded political campaigns for his own benefit, per The Guardian.

"All I know is that my dad told his lawyer to deliver some cheques to [a politician's] campaign, and asked that he respect him," Ortiz, 39, told the Guardian. "If there's a pact, they don't respect it. Now that they catch him they say he's a criminal, a killer. But they didn't say that when they asked for money for their campaigns. They're hypocrites."

Guzmán's Family Denies Claims

Emma Coronel, the drug kingpin's wife since 2007, said in a statement that the Guzmán family "completely disavow" Guzmán Ortiz's claims and "the relationship" she claims to have with them, the Guardian reported.

Guzmán's wife added that the family doesn't know anything about Guzmán Ortiz's mother.

"Joaquín's sister[s] affirm that they have never known of the existence of this person, hence it is more than obvious that she has no idea of what she is saying, since no one in the Guzmán Loera family and not even Joaquín himself identifies her," the statement said, as reported by the news outlet.

Mexican Government Responds

Second-time presidential aspirant Andrés Manuel López Obrador called Guzmán Ortiz's claims as "a strong revelation," adding that her statements should be investigated earnestly, the Guardian reported. López Obrador noted that President Enrique Peña Nieto cannot stay mum about the allegations.

National Action Party spokesman Fernando Rodríguez Doval also responded to the issue.

"A clear disavowal, an authentic clarification [is needed] because it's a very sensitive issue [and] above all because it's hanging over this matter of there being complicity on the part of prison authorities in the escape," Rodríguez Doval told the newspaper Reforma, as reported by the Guardian.

Fernando Dworak, an analyst and political consultant in Mexico City, said there's little hope for a proper investigation because the politicians will likely cover up for each other over the possibility of dirty money ending up in campaigns, the Guardian added.