Former ANDIS chief Diego Spagnuolo denied wrongdoing on Wednesday as he appeared in court, marking a new stage in the investigation probing alleged corruption at the national disability agency.
Spagnuolo – previously a lawyer for President Javier Milei before being appointed by the head of state to the head of the agency – rejected the charges against him during a 90-minute appearance before Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello.
He was accompanied to court by his lawyer, Mauricio D’Alessandro, who told Perfil his client would not seek to become a collaborating witness (“arrepentido”).
According to sources with access to the case file, he declined to describe the alleged events or answer most questions, limiting his appearance to a formal rejection of the indictment and a few statements. His appearance at the Comodoro Py courts centred on receiving notification of the indictment, they told Perfil.
Prosecutor Franco Picardi has accused Milei, current and former officials, and business figures of “fraud by fraudulent administration, embezzlement, conspiracy, bribery, active bribery and dealings incompatible with public office.”
The case stems from an August complaint alleging that Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei – the President’s sister – had taken a three-percent cut from medicine purchases made by ANDIS through pharmaceutical supplier Suizo Argentina.
Those claims emerged in leaked audio recordings in which a man – identified in media reports as Spagnuolo – is heard saying: "Karina gets three percent."
As the case gathered political traction, presidential allies have also sought to discredit the leaked material by suggesting the audio messages could be made with artificial intelligence.
One of the lines of inquiry concerns the integrity of the SIIPFIS procurement system, which ANDIS uses to manage purchases of medication and supplies. Picardi has alleged that the platform may have been manipulated to steer contracts toward favoured pharmaceutical companies, allowing officials and intermediaries to skim off illicit commissions.
Though Karina Milei has not publicly addressed the claims, her brother has repeatedly said the allegations are “a lie.” Suizo Argentina has also denied any wrongdoing.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Spagnuolo argued he had never planned to flee the country, countering a suggestion in Picardi’s earlier written opinion. He also sought to explain roughly US$80,000 found in one of his accounts by insisting the money pre-dated his tenure at ANDIS. Asked about renovations allegedly financed with kickbacks from pharmaceutical returns, he described them as “minor works” at his home, said court sources.
Court officials stressed that the key purpose of the inquiry was to formally notify him of the charges. “He did not describe the events,” one source told Perfil, noting that no substantive questioning took place. Asked whether his arrest was imminent, sources said all defendants had so far complied with summonses, but cautioned that “case files are living organisms” that can change quickly.
New messages
The investigation intensified on Thursday after La Nación published messages allegedly obtained from one of four mobile phones seized from the San Telmo property where businessman Miguel Ángel Calvete – identified by the prosecutor as one of the “public” chiefs of ANDIS – had been staying.
In one June exchange, Calvete allegedly urged Spagnuolo to proceed with a planned trip to Israel: “Go anyway, you nitwit… Don’t show any weakness.” That exchange occurred two months before leaked voice notes allegedly made by Spagnuolo – broadcast on the Carnaval streaming channel – triggered his immediate dismissal and that of his deputy, Daniel María Garbellini.
Reflecting tension within the Presidency, Spagnuolo is also quoted as telling Calvete: “Karina told the ambassador he doesn’t want him there because of that mess with Disability” – a reference to the Presidential Chief-of-Staff.
Calvete’s messages were reportedly recovered from one of four phones seized by the Federal Police on October 9 at a San Telmo property where he had spent several nights. Officers also found notebooks with records of the alleged bribe payments.
Garbellini, who served as Spagnuolo’s number two until August, appeared at Comodoro Py on Thursday with his lawyer Agustín Biancardi. Court officials confirmed he chose not to testify.
The scandal has triggered other resignations inside the agency. Ornella Calvete – former director national of Development Regional and Sectorial at the Economy Ministry and the government’s representative on the Comisión del Área Aduanera Especial (CAAE) – resigned on November 18 after investigators seized roughly US$700,000 in cash during a raid on her home linked to the ANDIS probe.
Her departure, confirmed by government sources, has deepened questions over internal oversight at the agency and fuelled speculation about the scale of the alleged bribery network operating beneath senior leadership.
Judge Casanello’s inquiries continue on Friday, November 28, when Eduardo Nelio González and Lorena Di Giorno are due to appear. Roger Edgar Grant has been scheduled for December 1, followed by Luciana Ferrari and Federico Maximiliano the next day.
Further summonses have been issued for Guadalupe Ariana Muñoz on December 3; Patricio Gustavo Rama and Ruth Noemí Lozano on December 4; and Andrés Horacio Arnaudo, Silvana Vanina Escudero and Alejandro Gastón Fuentes Acosta on December 5.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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