Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni on Thursday dismissed questions about his wealth and assets following controversy over a private jet trip, reports of undeclared properties and criticism over his wife travelling with an official presidential delegation.
Speaking at a press conference at the Casa Rosada, Adorni insisted he had nothing to hide and said all his assets were acquired before he entered government, while confirming he had made himself available to the courts.
"I’ve worked 25 years in the private sector. I accumulated my assets there before entering government. I have nothing to hide ... I do what I want with my money,” said the official at a press conference.
Adorni, one of President Javier Milei’s closest aides and formerly his presidential spokesperson, has been at the centre of a growing political controversy in recent weeks over his personal finances and property declarations.
On March 11,images were released showing him boarding a private jet in Buenos Aires with his wife and two young children, travelling to the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este for a February holiday.
In the following days, media reports claimed his family owned a previously undisclosed house inside a gated community in Exaltación de la Cruz, Buenos Aires Province, prompting questions about whether the property had been declared in sworn financial statements.
Quizzed about his properties, Adorni rejected the reports and dismissed what he described as “nonsense.”
“I really do live in the Caballito neighbourhood,” he said, adding that “everything which has to be declared has been declared.”
He also urged anyone with doubts to review official documentation and compare it with his sworn asset declarations.
Adorni declined, however, to answer detailed questions about his wealth, arguing that doing so could interfere with an ongoing court case.
“Given my status as Cabinet chief, giving details would probably imply interference in that court investigation, something I’m not going to do now or ever,” he remarked.
The press conference was called in an attempt to contain the political fallout, after government communications teams met last week to discuss how to respond to the controversy. Instead, the event prompted further questioning from journalists.
“We are placing at the disposal of the courts and the corresponding oversight bodies all the information they need,” Adorni said.
The minister had not given a press conference since February 6, when he appeared alongside Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno to announce details of Argentina’s reciprocal trade agreement with the United States. His last solo press appearance had been at the end of last year.
“I want to make something clear, no other government has raised the bar as high as ours,” Adorni said.
“We are not the same as those who went before us and people know that,” he added, saying he would not accept “ethics lessons” from those who had “lived off the state” or “robbed an entire Gross Domestic Product, nor the businessmen and journalists who helped them.”
Questions over wife
Adorni also faced questions over his wife, who is not a civil servant, and the decision to allow her to travel with Argentina’s official delegation earlier this month aboard the presidential aircraft to attend the "Argentina Week" trade fair in New York.
“It was a terrible decision, not a crime,” the minister said previously.
At the time, Adorni said he had bought her a commercial plane ticket for around US$5,400 which she ultimately did not use, a statement that raised further questions about his finances.
Local media later reported that Adorni allegedly owns two properties in Buenos Aires Province that do not appear in his previous sworn statements submitted to the Anti-Corruption Office.
According to his most recent declaration, Adorni owns two flats in Buenos Aires, one of which was received as a gift, has savings of around US$50,000 and debts of US$90,000. His ministerial salary is around three million pesos per month, roughly US$2,200 at the official exchange rate.
Adorni reacted angrily to some questions from journalists.
"The reason it hasn’t been declared is because the sworn statement isn’t due yet," he argued on Wednesday.
"You’re just a journalist, you’re not a judge," he snapped at one reporter.
The minister claimed the scrutiny of his finances formed part of “a political and media campaign” aimed at undermining the government.
The controversy comes as President Milei and his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, face alleged fraud investigations linked to the promotion of the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency, while the government is also dealing with a separate legal case involving an alleged bribery network in the procurement of medicines for the disability sector.
In relation to officials’ salaries, Adorni said ministers now earn almost half what they did under former president Alberto Fernández.
“I’m not saying that is not much, I am saying that we are not the same as those who went before us and people know that,” he said.
Karina Milei offered Adorni her “unconditional support” in two posts on X on Thursday night.
“I’m always with you,” she wrote, describing Adorni as a “person of integrity” and slamming “media rubbish.”
Coalición Cívica leader, national deputy Maximiliano Ferraro, called on Adorni to step aside, insisting public officials must have up-to-date information filed about their wealth and assets.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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