As Mexico Finance Minister departs, tycoon's role in government raises questions

FILE PHOTO: Alfonso Romo, top economic adviser and chief of staff nominee of Mexico's leftist presidential election front-runner, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, speaks to journalists during a news conference in Mexico City, Mexico June 25, 2018. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - At the heart of former finance minister Carlos Urzua's abrupt exit from the Mexican government was a dispute with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's chief of staff, a millionaire who has placed business associates in influential government posts.

The friction with biotech businessman Alfonso Romo was among the differences that led to Urzua's departure, Lopez Obrador said on Wednesday.