NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuter) The Mexican businessman at the center of an
investigation into whether drug traffickers laundered money through
Citicorp's Citibank accounts denied any wrongdoing, the Wall Street
Journal reported.

The businessman Manuel de Jesus Bitar Tafich denied assertions he
was ever a member of the cocaine cartel led by the late Amado Carrillo
Fuentes, the paper said in its electronic edition on Wednesday.

He made his comments in an interview in the hotel room in which he is
being detained, the paper said.

U.S. and Mexican authorities are looking into whether Bitar and others
believed to be associated with Mexico's largest cocaine cartel laundered
money through several banks, including Citibank, the paper said.

Citibank declined to comment, the paper said.

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