In Buenos Aires, the corruption investigation into the National Agency for Disability (ANDIS) has added new evidence that complicates former director Diego Spagnuolo. According to a report by journalist Vanesa Petrillo, new chats have been revealed that, according to prosecutor Franco Picardi, demonstrate the existence of a "criminal association" that sought to use a "state agency" to manage private interests. The investigation focuses on a WhatsApp group created on February 15, 2022, by Daniel María Garbellini, Spagnuolo's "right-hand man." The chats also mention Karina Milei as the one "who defines everything" and Spagnuolo as the one who "would have requested ANDIS." Picardi summarized that the agency "acted as a window for million-dollar, permanent, and targeted payments," with "overpricing" and "co-managed by external agents" linked to pharmacies. One of the most damning pieces of evidence detailed in the report is a dialogue between Spagnuolo and Miguel Ángel Calvete about a money transfer before Spagnuolo's supposed trip to Israel. In that chat, Pablo Atchabahian (whose detention was ordered on Friday), "Pato Country" (Patricio Rama), and Mariano Caballi, both linked to businessman Miguel Ángel Calvete, participated. Calvete tells him in an audio message: "tomorrow first thing in the morning he'll send it to wherever you tell him or give him a note, put it in some disguised place." In another conversation, Calvete asked his wife for "five palos" (millions) in cash for "the bald guy who travels to Israel." The chats reveal that once Spagnuolo and Garbellini took over at ANDIS, Atchabahian (who had worked at the agency in 2018) gave orders to Garbellini on "who to pay and who not to pay," which personnel to fire, and even how to incorporate companies into the SIIPFIS payment system. The investigation detected that an employee of the pharmaceutical company Roche S.A., Luciana Ferrari, had access to the SIIPFIS system "from the outside." The relationship was so close that Atchabahian wrote: "we are family." Prosecutor Picardi determined that the group "was seeking a public body to develop their activities jointly." Garbellini gave a username and password (in the name of another employee, Walter Martínez) at Atchabahian's request.
