One of Liam Payne’s “close friends” has issued a fierce denial of any involvement in the pop star’s death.
On Thursday 7 November, the prosecutor’s office announced that three people have now been charged in connection to the One Direction star’s death last month, aged 31.
Prosecutor Andrés Madrea said in a statement: “Illicit conduct was discovered from which three people were charged with the crimes of abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics.”
One person who was with Payne in the days leading up to his death has been charged with the abandonment of a person following death. A hotel employee is accused of supplying him with cocaine, while a third is accused of supplying drugs to the singer.
They are both charged with supplying narcotics on two occasions during Payne’s stay, Madrea said.
Argentinian businessman Rogelio Nores, known as “Roger”, has since hit back at speculation that he matched the description by authorities of one of the individuals charged.
Calling the “Strip That Down” singer his “very dear friend”, he claimed to have left the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires, where Payne was staying, 40 minutes before his death. He denied any involvement in the tragedy.
“I never abandoned Liam, I went to his hotel three times that day and left 40 minutes before this happened,” he told MailOnline.
“There were over 15 people at the hotel lobby chatting and joking with him when I left,” he continued.
“I could never have imagined something like this would happen.”
Nores said he had given his statement to the prosecutor on 17 October as a witness and had not spoken to “any police officer or prosecutor ever since”.
“I wasn’t Liam’s manager,” he said, “[Payne] was just my very dear friend and please refer to the email I sent to Liam and his team on 23 August.
“I’m really heartbroken with this tragedy and I’ve been missing my friend every day.”
Payne died after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room on 16 October.
Early toxicology reports found that the former One Direction star and solo artist had “multiple substances” in his system when he died. The local prosecutor’s office is currently investigating his death.
Prosecutors appear to have ruled out third party involvement and “self-harm”, according to the lengthy statement released on Thursday (8 November), after speculation over whether Payne had taken his own life.
“Although other medical background information from the victim's clinical history must still be analysed, the phenomenon of the lack of defence or self-preservation reflex in the fall, together with other relevant data from his consumption, allow us to conclude that Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall,” prosecutors said in a translated statement.
The office also said it had completed a detailed analysis of more than 800 hours of video footage from security cameras and obtained several dozen testimonies from hotel staff, family members, friends and medical professionals.
Nine raids have also been ordered on properties in Buenos Aires and some of Payne's devices are still being analysed, prosecutors said.
The musician's body was handed over to his father, Geoff Payne, last weekend, according to the statement, to be repatriated to the UK.
