“A huge corruption conspiracy and an elaborate scheme of improper payments to public officials,” was what judicial investigators discovered in a case directly targeting Javier Milei’s government. According to the accusation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office – the prosecuting body in the Argentine legal system -, a criminal organization operating in the National Agency for Disability (Andis) stole at least 43 billion pesos (about 30 million dollars) from public coffers: it directed the purchase of medicines and supplies for a fee and paid bribes to high officials.
One of the main defendants is former Andis director Diego Spagnuolo, who was Milei’s personal lawyer until the scandal broke out. The list of 15 defendants includes former officials, entrepreneurs and intermediaries, who will have to appear in court from Tuesday to give an investigative statement.
The case affects the ultra president of Argentina even more closely. His sister, Karina Milei, general secretary of the Presidency, is mentioned in recordings and messages appearing in the dossier as an alleged recipient of bribes for a percentage of the illicit transactions.
Irregularities in Andis, the organization that provides assistance to people with disabilities, became public last August, when audio was leaked in which, in several dialogues, a voice believed to be that of Spagnuolo detailed a scheme of rigged contracts with pharmaceutical companies and healthcare supply suppliers. In exchange, the beneficiary companies paid bribes of 8%: 5% to be distributed to the first level of those involved and 3% to the top. There he involved Karina Milei, the influential undersecretary for Institutional Management, Eduardo Lulé Menem and other Agency officials under his responsibility. The same voice claimed to have alerted the president to what was happening, to no avail.
The manager Milei reacted to the diffusion of the audio by denying the facts and sacking Spagnuolo and other Andis officials. The far-right president defended his sister and accused Kirchnerism of “shamelessly sowing chaos” in the run-up to the legislative elections.
After three months of investigations, federal prosecutor Franco Picardi drew up a detailed 276-page opinion, released in the last few hours, after the summary secrecy was lifted on the case. They relied not on the leaked audio, but on evidence collected in, among other things, property records and the defendants’ electronic devices.
The indictment established that, between 2024 and 2025, Andis “was intended to serve as an operations center for various illicit activities.” It acted as “a window for millionaire payments, permanent and direct, awarded in procedures outside the legal framework”, paying “surcharges for the benefit of suppliers with connections to the responsible officials”. According to the prosecutor, Andis “served the private interest of a group of businessmen and public officials,” “in a huge corruption scheme and in a well-oiled scheme of improper payments to officials who were supposed to look after the interests of people with disabilities and people of great social vulnerability.” For investigators, between July last year and last August, irregular rewards siphoned off more than 43 billion pesos.
In the opinion of the prosecutor’s office, 15 people are accused: Spagnuolo, the former directors of Access to Health Services Daniel Garbellini and Pablo Atchabahian, as well as entrepreneurs of the companies Profarma, Génesis, New Farma and Floresta, among others. The judge in the case, Sebastián Casanello, has already made one arrest: that of Atchabahian, last Friday and called the rest of the accused to testify. Starting Tuesday they will begin parading through the courts.
