\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Former head of the now-extinct National Disability Agency Diego Spagnuolo was prosecuted on Monday along with 18 other people \u2014 including former government officials and representatives of pharmaceutical companies \u2014 in a probe investigating a bribery scheme that operated within that state sector.<\/p>\n
Spagnuolo has been prosecuted for illicit association, fraud against the public administration, bribery, carrying out negotiations that were incompatible with his role as a public official, and infringement of the law regulating the ethics of public service.<\/p>\n
The scandal broke in August 2025 with the leak of several audios attributed to Spagnuolo, in which Presidency Secretary Karina Milei \u2014 President Javier Milei\u2019s sister \u2014 and her right-hand man, Lule Menem, were accused of running the bribery scheme. The system consisted of taking bribes from pharma and medical companies in exchange for state contracts. The voice in the audios said that Karina Milei took 3% of the bribes.<\/p>\n
The audios were not included as evidence in the case. Spagnuolo\u2019s defense has said that the recordings are illegal and were created using AI. The judiciary, however, has ordered an expert analysis of the audios.<\/p>\n
Karina Milei and Lule Menem were not prosecuted, and the government has outright denied their involvement. Mart\u00edn Menem, head of the lower house and cousin of Lule, was also mentioned but is not under investigation. Spagnuolo was fired shortly after the audios leaked, and the National Disability Agency (ANDIS, by its Spanish initials) was dissolved.<\/p>\n
Spagnuolo is now being charged with being one of the heads of the illicit association that took gains through the agency.<\/p>\n
Judge Sebasti\u00e1n Casanello also prosecuted three men he believes were the other leaders of the scheme: former Daniel Garbellini, former deputy director of the ANDIS; Pablo Atchabahian, a doctor who also worked at the agency; and businessman Miguel \u00c1ngel Calvete.<\/p>\n
Calvete is believed to have been Spagnuolo\u2019s right-hand man within the ANDIS, acting as an informal director of the agency. His daughter Ornella, who led a directorate in the economy ministry until she resigned in mid-November, is also among those prosecuted on Monday.<\/p>\n
Casanello began investigating Ornella Calvete after an analysis of her father\u2019s phone found messages of them talking about negotiations with medical companies. Her apartment was raided, and police found US$700,000 hidden inside. She was formally accused as part of the corruption scheme.<\/p>\n
How the bribery scheme operated \u201cThe agency was taken over and used as a source of enrichment for the members of the [illegal] organization, in clear detriment to the public purpose that should have guided their actions: the protection and care of people with disabilities,\u201d Casanello said in his ruling.<\/p>\n
The judge added that there may be more to the case, and also more potential people involved, as its scope is not yet clear. \u201cThere are clues that show the group may have extended the logic of intermediation, privileges, and surcharges to other areas and actors,\u201d Casanello wrote.<\/p>\n
According to the ruling, the system operated via a \u201csetup\u201d carried out during tenders whenever the agency needed to buy certain medical products or medicine. A group of companies who were part of the scheme generally \u201ctook turns\u201d to participate in the tenders and were chosen for the purchase of the required products, which were also \u201cunjustifiably expensive,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former head of the now-extinct National Disability Agency Diego Spagnuolo was prosecuted on Monday along with 18 other people \u2014 including former government officials and representatives of pharmaceutical companies \u2014 in a probe investigating a bribery scheme that operated within that state sector. Spagnuolo has been prosecuted for illicit association, fraud against the public administration, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3711,3712,1912,472,4033,9511,2187,59,9512],"tags":[9508,3738,1909,8803,4025,9509,2185,86,9510],"class_list":["post-33970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-andis","category-diego-spagnuolo","category-judiciary","category-karina-milei","category-local","category-lule-menem","category-national-politics","category-politics","category-sebastian-casanello","tag-andis","tag-diego-spagnuolo","tag-judiciary","tag-karina-milei","tag-local","tag-lule-menem","tag-national-politics","tag-politics","tag-sebastian-casanello"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33970","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=33970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}