The interview that the Chief of Staff, Manuel Adorni, granted to José Del Rio on the Mesa Chica program on LN+ became the official’s first public and extensive attempt to respond to accusations of alleged financial inconsistencies that have dogged him since March. In the report, the official confirmed that he presented corrective affidavits and acknowledged that he had omitted to report assets for approximately $500,000an admission that marked a turn from his previous responses to Congress.
During the conversation with Del Rio, the official maintained that the questioned assets were generated before entering the national government. “I worked for more than 25 years in the private sector,” he had already stated in March during a press conference at Casa Rosada, when complaints about his standard of living and assets began. “I built my assets there, before entering the Government; I have nothing to hide,” he insisted then.
In LN+, Adorni went one step further and acknowledged that both he and his wife, Bettina Angeletti, They kept undeclared savings for years. “We save in black like all Argentines,” he responded when Del Rio asked him why those funds had not been reported in a timely manner. He also assured that “the way to escape the old policy was to have savings in the black” and that he never imagined saving in the black during those years. As he explained, the asset reconstruction carried out together with his lawyers made it possible to identify omitted assets that were later incorporated through rectifications.
The coordinator of ministers stated that part of these resources come from savings accumulated during years of private activity and another portion from investments in cryptocurrencies. According to him, he had invested around $200,000 and subsequently obtained profits close to $300,000. He also maintained that he will regularize the tax situation and pay the corresponding taxes.
In the A24 screening, between Pablo Rossi and Eduardo Feinmann, the host of El Noticiero referred to what Adorni stated in the report and the possible motion of censure that could be carried out in Congress. “I noticed him dejected,” Feinmann highlighted and remarked: “Yesterday he said he wanted to resign.” “Adorni is going to have a problem,” he concluded.
The controversy with the main presidential spokesperson revolves around assets and expenses, which judicial complaints consider incompatible with the income declared by the official. Among the assets and operations under analysis are a home in the private neighborhood of Indio Cua Golf Club, an apartment in Caballito, luxury renovations allegedly paid for in cash, national and international trips, and consumption that would have far exceeded the officially recorded income. In addition, the investigation reached Angeletti, who was under observation due to the evolution of his assets and for having participated in official trips without holding public positions.
The chronology of the case began to unfold in March of this year. After journalistic investigations and judicial complaints about properties, trips and asset movements came to light, Adorni held a press conference at Casa Rosada to reject the accusations. There he assured that all his assets had been built in the private sphere and denounced a “political and media operation” against him. However, he avoided providing details about several of the questioned assets due to the existence of ongoing legal proceedings.
During April, the controversy moved to Congress. On April 29, Adorni appeared for the first time as Chief of Staff before the Chamber of Deputies to comply with the management report provided for by the Constitution. The opposition took the opportunity to raise questions about the origin of his assets and demand additional explanations. In the responses sent to Parliament, he maintained that the assets of his family group appeared in confidential annexes presented to the Anti-Corruption Office.
At the beginning of May, new elements appeared that intensified suspicions. A statement linked to works carried out, some very extravagant such as the creation of an artificial waterfall, indicated that the contractor Mariano Tabar would have received $245,000 in cash and without formal billing. At the same time, details were learned about properties acquired by the official and expenses that, according to the complainants, were not related to the declared income.
During May and early this month the judicial investigation continued to advance while the opposition demanded further explanations. Without a doubt, the turning point came this week, when the official publicly admitted the existence of approximately half a million dollars that did not appear in his previous statements and confirmed the presentation of corrective statements. This confession provoked new criticism from opposition sectors, who considered the situation incompatible with the transparency standards required of a front-line official.
At the institutional level, the Chamber of Deputies had already used the April appearance to demand explanations about the official’s assets and different blocks promoted requests for additional reports. In the Senate, demands also multiplied for the Chief of Staff to attend to provide details about the case in future presentations provided for by Article 101 of the Constitution. The controversy thus became one of the central issues of parliamentary control over Javier Milei’s management.
In this way, the case went in just three months from a series of journalistic complaints about properties, trips and expenses allegedly incompatible with the declared income to a political, parliamentary and judicial controversy of national scope, aggravated by Adorni’s own public admission that for years he kept assets without declaring that they were only incorporated into his asset presentations after the investigations began.
Image gallery
