The Argentine government has asked the head of the Treasury’s Prosecution Office to step down. Rodolfo Barra’s dismissal was attributed to differences over his management, but local media report that a recent decision had irked President Javier Milei. 

Barra was named for the job before Milei’s formal inauguration. He is known for his involvement in a neo-Nazi movement during his youth, which had prompted him to step down from a senior government role in the 1990s. His appointment sparked outrage among Jewish organizations.

A source close to Barra told the Herald that he was ousted for “irreconcilable differences in management.” Argentine newspapers reported that he had issued an opinion about the dismissal of a Justice Ministry worker that had angered the government. They also reported that the executive had learned he was actually living in Spain, an accusation the source refused to confirm or deny.

As the head of Treasury’s Prosecution Office, Barra was the Argentine State’s main lawyer, planning strategies to defend the government in cases such as the YPF expropriation lawsuit in New York and domestic complaints against legislation backed by the government.

President Javier Milei will select his replacement on Monday, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni posted on X.

Barra’s actions in his role were generally in line with the Milei administration. He defended the government’s flagship Ley Bases in Congress, ruled that Milei’s dogs are off limits to freedom of information requests, and authorized the Executive Branch’s internal audit body to inspect public universities after the President accused the institutions of lacking transparency about their spending.

Barra, 77, participated in the Tacuara Nationalist Movement, a far-right Peronist group created in 1957 that veered towards neo-Nazism during the 1960s. The movement perpetrated antisemitic violence including killings, kidnappings, and vandalizing and defacing Jewish buildings.

In 1996, he was forced to quit as then-President Carlos Menem’s justice minister when his participation in the Tacuara movement publicly surfaced. He is considered one of the men behind Menem’s state reform, which included the privatization of state-owned companies.