Corruption scandal implies Milei’s sister and reaches government to weeks of elections

The highest summit of the Javier Milei government in Argentina was involved in a corruption scandal that implies the sister of president and secretary general, Karina Milei. An audio leaked last week, attributed to a former government member Diego Spagnuolo, accused Karina of charging bribes from pharmaceutical industries and motivated an investigation by Argentine justice.

In audio, Spagnuolo, who headed the National Agency for Disability (Andis), accuses the sister of Milei and Eduardo “Lule” Menem, the Under -Secretary of Institutional Management, to charge up to 8% of the revenue of pharmaceutical companies to obtain contracts with the government. The scheme would yield about $ 800,000 monthly.

Spagnuolo claims that Karina Milei would get most of the profit, between 3% and 4%. He would have learned of the scheme after meeting Eduardo Menem, who is the right-hand man of the secretary general of the presidency and cousin of Martín Menem, president of the House of Representatives, and hear from him that he would need to hire certain employees.

In another moment, Spagnuolo would have been ordered to do business with a particular company. “They are stealing. You can pretend you don’t know, but don’t play the problem for me, I have all Karina’s Whatsapp,” says the former andis chief in one of the press-leaked audios. He would also have met Milei to report the case – which is denied by the government.

The Argentine president showed support to his sister on Monday and posed smiling by his side in the first public appearance after the complaints, but did not speak directly about the accusations.

The scandal can impact the president’s governance because it weakens the government two weeks from the elections for the province of Buenos Aires – where one third of the Argentine electorate resides – and two months from the legislative elections in Argentina. In recent weeks, the Government Malei also deals with failed expectations in the economy, despite the reduction of inflation, and with increasing resistance in Congress.

The first audio against Karina leaked on the 20th and had immediate repercussion in the court and the government of Argentina. Spagnuolo was fired from the position of leadership the next day, and the headquarters of Andis and the Suiz Argentine company, which would act as an intermediary in the sale of drugs to the state, were targets of search and seizure.

The complaint in court was filed by Gregorio Dalbón, a lawyer for former President Cristina Kirchner, and occurs at the time the congress has just nullified Milei’s veto to a law that declared emergency for people with disabilities and provided more funding for the sector. He speaks of a “matrix of corruption”.

According to the Argentine newspaper ClarínSpagnuolo’s cell phone was seized and had the data extracted for the progress of the investigation. An expert will determine whether the audios attributed to it are true or not. The court also seized cell phones from the Argentine Suiz partners -the brothers Emmanuel and Jonathan Kovalivker -but both delivered the offspring and without providing the password.

Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello, who takes care of the case, prohibited the departure of investigators from the country as a precautionary measure.

After the scandal surfaced, Milei’s chief of staff, Guillermo Franco, said the president is quiet and suggested that it is political persecution amid the election campaign. Martín Menem, president of the House of Representatives and Cousin of Lule, also called the audios of political persecution and defended the accused. “I put my hands on the fire by Lule Menem and Karina Milei,” he said.

Parliament studies opening a CPI to investigate complaints against Milei’s sister, which would increase political wear.