MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Macri's party urges Milei to remove his cabinet chief over asset-declaration inconsistencies

Macri, however, is pressing for the removal but would not contribute his party's votes to push an eventual censure motion in Congress.

The Propuesta Republicana (PRO) party, led by former president Mauricio Macri and an ally of the government since the start of Javier Milei's administration, on Friday called on the president to remove his Cabinet Chief, Manuel Adorni, amid growing controversy over inconsistencies in his sworn asset declarations. “President: those of us supporting change want you to defend change and not Adorni,” PRO said in a message on the social network X. Milei, for his part, has ratified his support for the official.

The demand came a day after a sharp party statement in which PRO described Adorni's conduct as “a serious failing” and an “episode that erodes public trust.” “An official cannot tell Argentines and the National Congress that he hid nothing, and then admit that he did. That has no possible justification,” the party held, urging him to “act with the transparency that society demands.”

The controversy escalated on Thursday, when Adorni —under judicial investigation for alleged illicit enrichment— filed his 2025 asset declaration before the Anti-Corruption Office and amended those of 2023 and 2024. In an interview, he attributed the assets added to savings accumulated over years of private-sector work and to gains from cryptocurrency investments he had not declared, worth more than $500,000. The admission contradicted what he himself had stated on April 29 before Congress, when he held that his declarations contained “all the details” of his wealth and that “there was never any concealment.”

The pressure from PRO was joined by the Radical Civic Union (UCR), which called the situation one of “extreme gravity,” and by Provincias Unidas figures such as Gisela Scaglia and former governor Juan Schiaretti, who held that Adorni “should have resigned long ago.” There was also criticism from within the government: Senator Patricia Bullrich spoke of an “ethical omission” and Vice President Victoria Villarruel called the cabinet chief's conduct “a disgrace.” Macri, however, is pressing for the removal but would not contribute his party's votes to push an eventual censure motion in Congress.

Adorni has been under investigation for months over alleged asset irregularities, stemming from cash payments without invoices for the purchase of an apartment in Buenos Aires and a house in an exclusive neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital —which he had not declared until a few weeks ago— and for renovation works. The inquiry was reactivated after a trip the official took to New York on the presidential plane. The judicial investigation continues.