Former head of disability agency prosecuted in bribery case

Former head of the now extinct National Disability Agency Diego Spagnuolo was prosecuted on Monday along with 18 other people — including former government officials and representatives of pharmaceutical companies — 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, bribery, carrying out negotiations that were incompatible with his role as public official, and infringement of the law regulating the ethics of public service. The scandal broke in August 2025 with the leak of several audios attributed to Spagnuolo, in which Presidency Secretary Karina Milei — President Javier Milei’s sister — and her right-hand man, Lule Menem, were accused of running the bribery scheme. The system consisted in 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. The audios were not included as evidence in the case. Spagnuolo’s defense has said that the recordings are illegal and were created using AI. The judiciary, however, has ordered an expert analysis of the audios. Karina Milei and Lule Menem were not prosecuted, and the government has outright denied their involvement. Martín 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. Spagnuolo is now being charged with being one of the heads of the illicit association that took gains through the agency. Judge Sebastián 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 Ángel Calvete. Calvete is believed to have been Spagnuolo’s 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. Casanello began investigating Ornella Calvete after an analysis of her father’s 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. How the bribery scheme operated “The 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,” Casanello said in his ruling. The judge added that there may be more to the case, and also more potential people involved, as its scope is not yet clear. “There are clues that show the group may have extended the logic of intermediation, privileges, and surcharges to other areas and actors,” Casanello wrote. According to the ruling, the system operated via a “set-up” 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 “took turns” to participate in the tenders and were chosen for the purchase of the required products, which were also “unjustifiably expensive,” the judge said.