Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni on Thursday dismissed questions regarding his assets and wealth following the publication of images of a family trip on a private jet, controversy about his wife’s attendance on a presidential trip overseas and media reports of alleged undeclared assets.
Speaking at a press conference at the Casa Rosada, Adorni said he has nothing to hide and has placed himself at the disposal of 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.
“I was summoned by the President two years ago and, as everybody knows, my assets were acquired before entering government. I have nothing to hide,” Adorni reiterated.
He declined to answer questions about the details of his wealth “because it forms part of an ongoing legal 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.
Adorni has found himself at the centre of a media storm in recent weeks.
On March 11, images were released showing him boarding a private jet with his wife and two young children in Buenos Aires, en route to a holiday at the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este in February.
In the subsequent days, reports emerged that his family had a previously unknown home inside a gated community in Exhaltacion de la Cruz, Buenos Aires Province.
Quizzed as to the details of his properties, Adorni was categorical in separating his information from what he termed "nonsense."
“I really do live in the Caballito neighbourhood,” he said.
Regarding the accusations about an alleged house in a gated community, Adorni stated: “That is clearly false but in any case everything which has to be declared has been declared.”
He further urged anybody who had any doubts to check official documentation: “The remaining properties in different neighbourhoods of the city should be collated with my sworn statement.”
Attempting to deal with the rising pressure on Adorni, the presidential communication teams – including aides responding to presidential advisor Santiago Caputo – huddled last week to brainstorm ideas.
In an attempt to regain the narrative, the Cabinet chief – who formerly served as President Javier Milei’s spokesperson – later announced a Thursday press conference in order to clear the air and put the controversy behind him.
However, if anything, the event spurred journalists into asking even more questions.
“We are placing at the disposal of the courts and the corresponding organs of control all the information they need,” responded Adorni to questioning.
Adorni had not given a press conference since last February 6, when he announced alongside Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno to announce details of Argentina’s reciprocal trade agreement with the United States. His last solo appearance before the press dates back to the end of last year.
“I want to make something clear, no other government has raised the bar as high as ours has,” said Adorni.
“We are not the same as those who went before us and people know that,” assuring that he was not going to allow those who “have lived off the state since they were born” or “robbed an entire Gross Domestic Product, nor the businessmen and journalists who helped them,” to give me “classes in ethics.”
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.
When the scandal first broke, Adorni claimed that he had bought her a plane ticket for around US$5,400 which she ultimately did not use – a fact that raised doubts regarding the minister’s 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 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 salary as minister is around three million pesos a month (about US$1,500 at the official exchange rate).
Adorni did not respond well to questioning.
"The reason it hasn’t been declared is because the sworn statement isn’t due yet," argued Adorni on Wednesday.
"You’re just a journalist, you’re not a judge," he snapped to one reporter who asked him about his expenses.
The minister, one of President Milei’s key aides, claimed that the suspicions surrounding his assets were part of "a political and media campaign” designed “to undermine the government.”
President Milei and his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, are implicated in an alleged fraud case involving the promotion of the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency, which is under investigation in Argentina and the United States.
The government also faces an ongoing legal case concerning an alleged bribery network in the procurement of medicines for the disability sector.
In relation to the pay of officials, Adorni said: "Ministers earn almost half what they did with [Milei’s successor] 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."
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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