Liam Payne, member of One Direction, passed away at the age of 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an investigation is ongoing

An Argentinian waiter has reportedly admitted to taking drugs with Liam Payne in his hotel room before his death – but he insists he did not accept money for them.

It is understood Braian Nahuel Paiz, 24, has been arrested in connection with the death of the One Direction singer, who fell from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in October.

Paiz met Liam at the restaurant where he worked two nights before his tragic death and claims they spent those nights drinking whiskey and taking cocaine, according to reports today. Paiz has been arrested on charges of supplying and facilitating narcotics, but has denied any involvement in Liam’s death, it is understood.

Now, ahead of an upcoming documentary entitled TMZ Investigates: Liam Payne: Who’s to Blame?, Mail Online says the waiter admitted to taking cocaine with Liam but denied accepting any money for drugs, including a Rolex watch.

Braian Nahuel Paiz has spoken out following his arrest ( 
Image:
Telefe Noticias/Youtube)

Paiz told TMZ: “They say I’m the dealer, that I carry drugs, that I sold them and the truth is that no, no I didn’t sell them.”

When asked if he used drugs with Liam on the night he met the star, Paiz added: “Yeah, there was. There was cocaine – there wasn’t even a lot of it but we had some with whiskey… The second night too. The soap box and some aluminum foil was already there – drugs scattered everywhere.”

Paiz told TMZ he did not accept Liam’s money for the drugs and claimed the One Direction star wanted to offer him his Rolex, but that he declined the offer. He added: “I didn’t accept it. I didn’t accept anything just a drawing that he drew which were part of my eyes, nose mouth.”

Liam, 31, fell 46ft from the third-floor balcony of Room 10 in the CasaSur hotel in the upmarket Palermo district where he had been staying for the previous three days as part of a two-week trip to the city.

Paiz has previously addressed the allegations made against him. Appearing on Argentinian TV last month, he claimed he first met Liam at the restaurant where he worked in the upmarket neighbourhood of Puerto Madero. He said he exchanged contact details with the singer as he dined with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy and two other people.

Speaking in an on-camera interview to journalist Guillermo Panizza, Paiz said: “I never supplied Liam with drugs. ‘Liam’s first contact with me was at my place of work… We swapped details and saw each other later that night. It was all normal. He came down from his hotel room to fetch me because I had got lost.”