A new stage in the ANDIS case
Federal judge Ariel Lijo issued a new ruling in the investigation into irregularities at Argentina's National Disability Agency. The decision deepens the inquiry into an alleged criminal organization that would have steered public contracting and allowed authorities to identify price differences of more than 7.833 billion pesos between medicines and medical supplies.[S1]
Lijo, temporarily in charge of National Criminal and Correctional Federal Court No. 11, ordered the processing without preventive detention of 19 people and broadened the processing of five others who had already been charged. The step covers alleged corruption maneuvers at the agency, particularly in contracts for medical and orthopedic supplies handled through the Incluir Salud program.[S1]
The ruling extended the charges against Diego Orlando Spagnuolo, Daniel María Garbellini and Miguel Ángel Calvete as alleged heads of the criminal association under investigation, as well as those against Andrés Horacio Arnaudo and Federico Maximiliano Santich, considered members of that organization. All five had been processed on February 9, 2026, in a decision later confirmed by Chamber II of the Federal Appeals Court.[S1]
A separate report identifies Spagnuolo as the former head of the agency and Garbellini as his second, and also names Miguel Ángel Calvette and Ornella Calvette among those facing charges alongside a large group of businesspeople. It describes the accusations as covering a corruption scheme in a second stage of the investigation that included steered purchases of orthopedic supplies, overpricing and bribes. The case is delegated to prosecutor Franco Picardi, who is continuing with the new stage of the inquiry.[S2]
Charges and the alleged scheme
The new resolution extends the attribution to maneuvers tied to contracting in the supplies sector as part of the same criminal structure under investigation. In that context, those charged face allegations of criminal association, negotiations incompatible with public office and fraud through aggravated fraudulent administration against the national public administration.[S1]
In some cases the court also found facts constituting aggravated money laundering, linked to the alleged channeling and circulation of funds from the maneuvers under investigation. The ruling additionally ordered the processing of businesspeople and people tied to various supplier firms of the agency.[S1]
Assessing the alleged operation as a whole, the resolution states that the body of evidence gathered allows the existence of a criminal organization to be taken as proven, at the degree of probability required at this stage, operating inside and outside the agency. It describes an organization made up of agency officials, mainly Spagnuolo and Garbellini along with other agents in strategic roles, external operators such as Calvete and Pablo Atchabahian, businesspeople linked to supplier firms, and people tasked with receiving, moving and channeling the funds.[S1]
On how the scheme allegedly worked, the ruling states that the operation consisted of the systematic manipulation of contracting procedures for medicines and PACBI supplies, through the arbitrary selection of providers, the circulation of privileged information, the simulation of competition, the steering of awards and the management of payments in favor of certain companies. According to the resolution, that mechanism generated economic benefits.[S1]
Who was processed and what was examined
Among the newly processed are Emilio César Olguín, linked to Expo Trauma S.A.; Evangelina Ileana García and Martím Goncalo Armella, tied to Artrobone Ortopedia S.A. and Cirugía y Ortopedia Imnova S.A.; Claudio Alejandro Kahn, connected to Cirugía Alemana Insumos Médicos S.A.; and Osmar Mariano Caballi, linked to Farma Salud S.R.L.[S1]
Also processed were Mariano, Christian and Vicente Eduardo Sagués, tied to Laboratorio Ortopédico Sagués S.R.L., Probock S.R.L. and Prolite Orthopedics S.R.L.; Humberto Gabriel Maone, linked to Med-El Latino América S.R.L.; Nicolás Luna, tied to Meridius S.A.; Fabián César Piedimonte, connected to Neurosalud S.A.; Gustavo David Bernat, linked to Ortopedia Bernat S.R.L.; and Patricio Oscar Acosta, tied among other firms to Bymax Medical S.R.L. and Sistemas Médicos Globales S.R.L.[S1]
The decision also reached Fabián Alexis Parlakian, Matías Javier Palotti Bertola and Alberto Patricio Denholm, who allegedly held relevant roles within the agency's administrative structure, particularly in managing invitations to suppliers, coordinating procedures, handling internal information and following up on payments. In another part of the investigation, the court processed Alan Pocovi and Sergio Daniel Mastropietro for criminal association and aggravated money laundering, based on the inquiry into financial and commercial circuits linked to Calvete and the company Baires Fly S.A. Lautaro Valentín Brítez was also processed as a member of the criminal association, while the court issued a lack of merit for 11 people who had been questioned and whose cases require further investigation.[S1]
The investigation examined procurement procedures across six segments of the supplies sector: amputations, cardio, hearing implants and hearing aids, neuro, chairs and walkers, and traumatology. Based on a technical survey by the Ministry of Health, price differences of at least 1.849.277.963 pesos were identified in certain supply operations. Those differences add to the 5.984.594.394,24 pesos previously identified in the medicines sector, producing a combined economic quantification of 7.833.872.357,24 pesos. It is a provisional and partial estimate, built from the operations that could be compared with reference values.[S1]
