\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t The former head of Argentina\u2019s National Disability Agency (ANDIS), Diego Spagnuolo, did not answer questions from the judge or prosecutor during his defendant\u2019s statement in a court investigation into alleged corruption at the agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Spagnuolo stands accused of coordinating a corruption ring whereby drug companies paid bribes to senior government officials including the president\u2019s sister in exchange for contracts with the agency.<\/p>\n
Spagnoulo was fired from his post after a series of audio recordings were leaked that appear to show him accusing President Javier Milei\u2019s sister and Secretary General, Karina Milei, of taking bribes for the contracts.<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutor Franco Picardi is investigating whether the alleged events at the agency amount to crimes including steering of purchases, embezzlement, and corruption. He accused Spagnuolo of \u201ckey actions and omissions that were fundamental to the operation of the criminal scheme.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Wednesday\u2019s judicial proceedings at a Buenos Aires court, Spanguolo\u2019s lawyer, Mauricio D\u2019Alessandro, said that the former official made a brief statement to defend his innocence, denying all the court\u2019s charges against him, and refused to answer questions.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Alessandro denied that Spagnuolo had arranged payments at the agency, instead claiming that the recordings were deepfakes edited with AI.<\/p>\n
Another key figure in the case is Miguel \u00c1ngel Calvete, Spagnuolo\u2019s right-hand man. The indictment details Calvete\u2019s links to laboratories and drugstores and describes how he wielded influence at the ANDIS, despite not holding a position there. Calvete is accused of laundering the money allegedly obtained from illegal maneuvers at ANDIS.<\/p>\n
Calvete is currently in custody after being convicted of charging sex workers to operate in a series of properties he managed.<\/p>\n
The recordings of the man alleged to be Spagnuolo were first published in August by journalists Mauro Federico and Ivy C\u00e1ngaro. As well as naming government officials including Karina Milei and her top assistant, Eduardo \u201cLule\u201d Menem, the man accuses drug company Suizo Argentina of gathering bribes paid by other companies. Spagnuolo and three Suizo Argentina executives were barred from leaving the country following the accusations.<\/p>\n
The ANDIS scandal was the second major scandal of Milei\u2019s presidency, following the $LIBRA cryptocurrency debacle in February. It hit particularly close to home because Spagnuolo was also the president\u2019s lawyer and the men were personal friends.<\/p>\n
The issue was a political embarrassment for the Milei government, surfacing at a moment when the president was engaged in a tussle with Argentina\u2019s Congress over disability funding, as lawmakers sought to overturn his block on a law increasing funding \u2014 a move the president was claiming the country couldn\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The former head of Argentina\u2019s National Disability Agency (ANDIS), Diego Spagnuolo, did not answer questions from the judge or prosecutor during his defendant\u2019s statement in a court investigation into alleged corruption at the agency.\u00a0 Spagnuolo stands accused of coordinating a corruption ring whereby drug companies paid bribes to senior government officials including the president\u2019s sister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3712,3740,1912,59],"tags":[3738,3739,1909,86],"class_list":["post-10985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-diego-spagnuolo","category-disability-scandal","category-judiciary","category-politics","tag-diego-spagnuolo","tag-disability-scandal","tag-judiciary","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}