MEXICO CITY, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexico may seek the return of the fortune reportedly amassed by former drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.
"We are going to analyze the case, because what they (U.S. prosecutors) are proposing, that they are going to keep assets obtained in this way, we won't accept if there is no legal basis for it," Lopez Obrador said during his daily press conference.
The president said he agreed with El Chapo's lawyer, who argued that the wealth Guzman amassed from drug trafficking was obtained in Mexico, not in the United States as prosecutors claim.
"These assets, in any case, legally belong to Mexico," he said, adding "I believe the United States government will also agree, but we must do the paperwork, because I don't recall it having been done before."
The former head of the Sinaloa Cartel was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years on Wednesday by a U.S. court.
The judge also ordered the confiscation of more than 12.6 billion U.S. dollars in assets as compensation for his years of drug smuggling into the United States, including heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine.
Guzman was extradited to the United States in 2018 to face trial after repeatedly breaking out of jail in Mexico.
