Sinaloa governor Rubén Rocha Moya has taken temporary leave from office after US prosecutors in New York charged him and nine other politicians and security officials with alleged links to the Sinaloa drug cartel. Rocha, 76, announced the move in a video message shortly after midnight on Friday, denying the accusations and calling them false and malicious, the Associated Press reports.

"My conscience is clear," Rocha said in the video, adding that he could look his people and his family in the eye because he had never betrayed them. He said he was stepping aside to defend himself against the charges and to cooperate with the Mexican government's investigation.

The mayor of Culiacán, the Sinaloa state capital, Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, who is also named in the indictment, has likewise taken leave and denied the charges. In a special vote on Saturday, the state congress appointed Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde, a Rocha ally and former secretary of government, as interim governor.

US prosecutors allege the group worked with cartel leaders to move large quantities of narcotics into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes, and that members of the cartel's "Chapitos" faction backed Rocha's 2021 election campaign by stealing ballots and ballot boxes and intimidating opposition candidates. Rocha has rejected the claims as a political attack on his Morena party.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has said the US claims lack credibility unless backed by evidence, and that any wrongdoing would be tried in Mexico if her attorney general's office found irrefutable proof. Mexico's attorney general's office has said it will not arrest Rocha or the other accused officials, as requested by the US, while its investigation is pending.