Mexico's first lady to sell mansion after controversy over China rail tender

Mexico's first lady is selling her multimillion-dollar private mansion to end a controversy over her purchase of the property from a government contractor with links to a Chinese railway firm.

Reacting after a report that suggested a conflict of interest, Angelica Rivera issued a video on her website late on Tuesday to say she had bought the house with her earnings from her days as a popular soap opera star.

But Rivera's explanation did not appear to refute the main facts in last week's report, including that the house was built by and was still in the name of a government contractor's subsidiary. The subsidiary of Grupo Higa was part of a Chinese-Mexican consortium that won an uncontested US$3.7 billion bullet train contract from the Mexican government.

Criticism of the mansion in an upmarket Mexico City neighbourhood has been an extra headache for President Enrique Pena Nieto, already struggling with protests over the government's handling of the presumed massacre of 43 college students.

"In the face of accusations that have put my honour in doubt, I want to make it clear before all Mexicans that I have nothing to hide, that I have worked all my life and that thanks to that I am an independent woman," Rivera said.

"I have always acted with integrity," she said, adding she had declared nearly US$10 million in revenue in 2010, and paid almost US$3 million in taxes.