Milei shuts down ANDIS disability agency tainted by corruption claims

Argentina’s government has announced it will shutter the ANDIS national disability agency, the body at the centre of corruption allegations involving President Javier Milei’s sister.

The agency’s functions will be absorbed by the Health Ministry, without any cuts to the benefits it provides to more than three million people, Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni said.

Since Milei took office in December 2023, ANDIS has been placed under trusteeship and subjected to an audit, a process the government says has identified tens of thousands of irregular claims.

The review led to interruptions in services and complaints from welfare recipients, who mobilised allies to stage a series of protests demanding more funding for the agency and disability support programmes.

ANDIS was thrust into scandal after Argentina’s courts ordered raids on its headquarters and those of Suizo Argentino, a major pharmaceutical distributor, over an alleged scheme involving bribes and kickbacks to secure state contracts.

The case has put the President’s sister, Karina Milei – his most powerful aide who serves as presidential chief-of-staff – firmly in the spotlight.

President Milei has denied any wrongdoing on the part of his sister, who has not commented publicly on the allegations.

The scandal broke after the publication in mid-August of alleged audio recordings in the local press. In the clips, a voice purportedly belonging to the former head of ANDIS, Diego Spagnuolo – Milei’s former personal lawyer – claims that Karina Milei and her associates received a three percent cut of sums paid out by the agency for the purchase of medicines from Suizo Argentino.

Shortly after the claims became public, Spagnuolo was removed from his post and charged by the courts as the alleged leader of a criminal association. Around 20 people have since testified in the investigation, including a former official at Argentina’s Economy Ministry.

Spagnuolo has denied all charges and has reportedly told the courts that the recordings were falsified and manipulated. Prosecutors, however, have upheld the accusations on the basis of additional evidence and are continuing their investigation.

Karina Milei was summoned by the lower house Chamber of Deputies in October to provide explanations to Congress, but did not attend the hearing. For the time being, she has not been called to testify by the courts.

– TIMES/AFP