Argentine Minister Guillermo Francos is in debt after interpellation for the Libra case

At the beginning of April, both the opposition to the government of Javier Milei and the most moderate blocks not only managed to gather the votes to advance with the creation of a investigative commission for the scandal of the Libra cryptocurrency, but also to cite several officials of the Executive Power.

The Congress summoned the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo; to the Minister of Justice, Mariano Cúneo Libarona; and to the chief of Cabinet, Guillermo Francos. However, hours before the session, the government confirmed that only Francos would attend, who justified the absence of the other ministers claiming that «they have no link with the issue in particular» and that they will respond in writing.

The session began with exhibitions of representatives of five blocks: Popular Union, Federal Meeting, Civic Coalition, The Left Front and Democracy forever. Francos, who in the prelude had already described the call as «A political show» – In allusion to the pre -election climate that is lived in Argentina in the face of the legislative of October – and indicated that «all the explanations that the president had given him», presented his arguments before he began to answer questions from the different political spaces. It should be noted that the session was scheduled for last week, but was suspended due to the national duel for the death of Pope Francis.

With fair quorum – 129 present and 128 absent – the session began around 14:22 (Argentine time), In the midst of the frustration of several deputies for the confirmed absence of ministers Caputo and Cúneo Libarona. One of them was Fernando Carbajal, of the Democracy Block forever, who recalled that the obligation to appear is established in the National Constitution, and that its breach constitutes a serious ethic lack. «Congress cannot ignore that two ministers, without even trying any justification, refuse to attend an interpellation request,» he warned.

For his part, the deputy of the Left Front, Nicolás del Caño, reiterated his usual position in the sessions of the Congress on the Libra case, qualifying as unusual that Milei himself has never presented himself to give explanations. «From the Left Front we held from the beginning that the president had to come to Congress to face. What do you have to hide? What is the fear that prevents you from explaining a scam of millions of dollars like Libra? ”He questioned.

In the same line that Carbajal expressed Pedro Germán Martínez, deputy of Unión for La Patria, who recalled that the head of the National Securities Commission, Roberto E. Silva, had also been summoned and did not appear. Martínez warned: «I don’t want it to go unnoticed that two ministers decided not to attend, like the president of the CNV, and that the Chamber of Deputies – as the power of the State – keep silent about it. It seems quite serious.

Francos came out in defense of Javier Milei

Finally, around 15:45, Guillermo Francos entered the Chamber and began his exhibition expressing his discomfort for having had to wait two hours to enter the enclosure, explaining to those present that, according to article 71 of the Constitution, the ministers are not obliged to attend when they are summoned by Congress. He then said that issues related to the Libra cryptoactive are not related to government acts: «It is important to make it clear that The president did not maintain any contact with the project living La Libertad or Libra. There is no link between the president and those ventures, beyond what has already been explained in the interview of February 17 «, reviewed by cryptootics.

The State has not had any interference in this project [libra]so many of the details that are discussed here are even unknown to the Executive Power itself. This type of discussions divert attention from issues that really affect the daily life of Argentines … Libra was an entrepreneurship between private and all the information has been sent to justice and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Guillermo Francos, head of the government of the Government of Javier Milei.

Thus, the chief of staff explained that Milei met Mauricio Novelli in 2020with whom he began a relationship of both personal and professional friendship. At that time, Novelli taught classes at the NW Finance Academy Traders. According to Francos: «Novelli, together with Manuel Terrones Godoy, participated in the organization of the Tech Forum event in Argentina. It was in that context that the president had contact with Hayden Davis, Julián Peh and others involved, who told him his intention to take advantage of technologies linked to cryptocurrencies to foster investments in the country ».

It should be noted that Mauricio Novelli, Terrones Godoy, Julián Peh and Hayden Davis were criminally denounced in the United States by the Moyano and Associated Study, based in Pennsylvania. The complaint argues that Thousands of citizens, both Argentines and foreign, would have been victims of a scam planned by these individuals.

The chief of cabinet, after clarifying that no official participated directly in the creation of the controversial Token, spoke about the advances in the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in the country and the chances of creating their own virtual currency. In that sense, he said: «The CNV issued General Resolution 1058/2025, which forces virtual asset services providers to register all operations and the data of its customers ». Regarding the possibility of developing a national cryptocurrency, Francos said that the Government does not have information about it.

Questions without answers at Congress

During the interpellation, Deputy Itai Hagman, of the Patria Grande Front, asked the head of the ministers on the origin of the Libra contract code, which was included by President Milei in the tweet that generated controversy. Hagman specifically questioned who provided that code to the president, highlighting that this was the catalyst for the project to be very appreciated. Francos only said that Milei spread the information «because it was public». When asked if, on behalf of Milei, he could commit to reveal next week where the contract number had been published, the official replied: «I cannot commit.»

However, Hagman did not settle for the answer … He asked what study the government had conducted to support Libra, since Franks said that the president, constantly, meets privately and evaluates interesting proposals. The official eluded the nature of the question And he argued that the tweet reflected only Milei’s personal interest in promoting ventures without state intervention, and stressed that, due to Argentina’s international attraction, he usually receives investors interested in the economy and the next elections.

For his part, Deputy Juan Marino, of Union for the Homeland, said that good faith does not exempt from a possible crime when who acts is a head of state. In that sense, he questioned Guillermo Francos if he considered appropriate for the president to publish and maintain ads on private projects for hours. The chief of cabinet just replied that Milei acted like this because the initiative seemed interesting to support entrepreneurs who usually face difficulties in obtaining financing.

The session climbed into intensity when Marino questioned Franks about the support of the Government to Tech Forum and Mauricio Novelli’s visits to the Casa Rosada, suggesting questionable links with the Executive. Marino pressed the chief of cabinet to explain these connections, hinting irregularities. Franks, blunt, rejected the proposals: «You are only based on press speculations. If you have concrete evidence, present them to justice. I can’t answer for rumors ».

Among other interventions, Francos revealed that his only experience with cryptocurrencies was to have a quarter (1/4) of Bitcoin, which he lost by forgetting where he had stored it. In addition, before a question by Nicolás Massot, of the Federal Meeting Block on whether it considered that the Libra case constituted a scam, the chief of cabinet was cautious: «I cannot pronounce on a matter under judicial investigation. It is necessary to wait for the justice failure to determine if there was a scam and who were responsible. It is not a subject of my competition ».

Several of francos responses during the interpellation evidenced ignorance about the details of the Libra case, which Far from clarifying the doubts raised by the deputies, the uncertainty about the scandal deepened And the voltage level increased within the camera.

His insistence to reiterate that what happened was something between private and an answer on the contract code that many considered questionable, failed to dispel the concerns of many officials. This informative vacuum, in a context of accusations of millionaire fraud, compromises the credibility of the Executive and feeds questions about possible unchanged links.