Argentina Disability Agency Case: Arrest Request Filed Against Spagnuolo
Politics · Argentina
Key Facts
- —What happened A lawyer asked federal judge Ariel Lijo on 28 September 2026 to order the arrest of Diego Spagnuolo.
- —Who he is Spagnuolo ran the Argentina disability agency, which bought costly medicines for people with no other health cover.
- —How big the gaps are Reports in the court file say the agency paid 425 million pesos (about US$339,000) for one transcatheter valve system.
- —The catch The request came from the case complainant, not from the prosecutor, and he is not a party.
- —What comes next Judge Lijo must rule on it; Spagnuolo is charged, not convicted, and is presumed innocent.
The lawyer whose complaint opened the case has asked a federal judge to arrest the former head of the Argentina disability agency. No ruling yet.
The Argentina disability agency corruption case took another turn on Monday, 28 September 2026. A lawyer asked a federal judge to order the arrest of the man who used to run the agency.
The lawyer is Gregorio Dalbón. His criminal complaint opened the case in August 2025, and he put the new request to Judge Ariel Lijo.
Nobody has been convicted here. Diego Spagnuolo is charged, presumed innocent and not in custody.
Who Diego Spagnuolo is
Spagnuolo is a lawyer. A presidential decree of 27 December 2023 made him executive director of the Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad.
That body is the country’s national disability agency, known by the short name ANDIS. It handled disability pensions and certificates, and paid for high-cost medicines for patients with no other cover.
A second decree ended his appointment on 21 August 2025. That was a day after recordings attributed to him were made public.
What is new in the case
The Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación published the contents of two technical reports on Sunday, 27 September 2026. Both were signed earlier, on 15 October 2025 and 10 April 2026.
The reports reached the court from the Health Ministry and from Alejandro Vilches. He is the official the government put in charge of the agency after Spagnuolo left, and he resigned on 21 September 2026.
One report describes what it calls deviations that are technically indefensible. Its yardstick is mostly PAMI, the state health insurer for Argentine retirees.
The numbers, and what they measure
On 8 July 2025 the agency paid 425 million pesos (about US$339,000) for a bicaval transcatheter valve system. The supplier was a firm called Farma Salud.
PAMI had awarded the same system on 25 March 2025 at a unit price of 124.2 million pesos (about US$116,000). In pesos, the agency paid about 3.4 times the PAMI price.
Conversions here use the official Banco Central rate on each of those two dates: 1,255 to the US dollar, and 1,071.75. Two of Farma Salud’s representatives have denied making improper payments to officials.
Across the reports, the widest gap is put at 1,972%, measured against prices paid by other public bodies. A pulmonary valve shows a gap of 711%, and a neurostimulator one of 219%.
A separate figure of 4,239%, on orthopaedic goods, belongs to the April report. Argentine outlets reported that figure in May 2026.
The supplier, Ortopedia Bernat, told La Nación that the invoice concerned was still unpaid at least until May.
The firm said a simpler walking frame was delivered than the one awarded, yet billed at the awarded price.
Cochlear implants and a prosthesis that never arrived
The reports also examined cochlear implants, devices that give some deaf patients a sense of hearing. The average unit price paid to Droguería Floresta was US$62,613.
The market reference the analysts chose was about US$16,975 per unit. The gap is US$45,638, which the report puts at 269% above that reference.
One case concerned a patient in Río Negro province who needed a prosthesis after an amputation. The paperwork showed delivery, with a receipt signed by the patient’s mother.
The report says her signature was obtained by misleading her during the measuring visit. It concludes the device was never actually received.
Why the request may go nowhere
Dalbón is the case complainant, not a party to the file. Infobae reported that the court can consider his filing but is unlikely to, because he is not a recognised private plaintiff.
He has acted for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina’s president from 2007 to 2015 and a leader of the Peronist opposition. When he filed the original complaint he denied it was a political operation.
The prosecutor running the investigation is Franco Picardi. He asked for Spagnuolo’s arrest in November 2025, and Judge Sebastián Casanello turned that request down.
Dalbón argues that Spagnuolo could hide or destroy evidence and influence witnesses. He also argues a flight risk, though Spagnuolo has been barred from leaving the country since August 2025.
What the defence says
Spagnuolo’s lawyer Mauricio D’Alessandro has told the courts the recordings were edited or made with artificial intelligence. The defence asked for the whole case to be annulled.
On 22 September 2026 the federal appeals court rejected that and upheld the charges against 19 people. The forensic examination of the audio files is still running.
That examination has found signs of cuts and edits in one of the longest files, according to Infobae. A private expert report from December 2025 put at 65% the probability that a voice was artificially created.
In a separate filing about alleged illegal spying, Spagnuolo wrote that the voice appears to be his. The appeals court still refused to let him join that case as a complainant.
No public response from Spagnuolo or his lawyers to Monday’s arrest request has been reported.
What it means for residents and investors
None of this changes how a resident obtains healthcare in Argentina. The agency at the centre of it no longer exists in its old shape.
The government said in December 2025 that its functions would move into the Health Ministry. Disability policy now sits with a national secretariat.
On 28 September 2026 the government made Pablo Di Liscia’s appointment to lead that secretariat official. He replaces Vilches, on the same day the arrest request was filed.
For companies selling to Argentine health bodies, the drift is towards tighter checks on tenders and prices. Compliance costs tend to rise while a procurement case is live.
No trial date has been published, and the court has not said when it will decide on the arrest request. For now the file keeps growing and the defendants stay free.
More: Argentina coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Argentina disability agency case about?
Prosecutors say that between December 2023 and October 2025 purchases of high-cost medicines and medical equipment were steered to a closed group of suppliers at inflated prices. The agency involved is the Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad, or ANDIS, which paid for those goods for patients with no other health cover. Nineteen people face pre-trial charges, including the former executive director, Diego Spagnuolo. None of them has been convicted.
Has anyone been arrested?
No. Spagnuolo and the other defendants are free, with bans on selling assets and on leaving the country. A lawyer asked Judge Ariel Lijo on 28 September 2026 to order Spagnuolo’s arrest, and the judge has not ruled on that request. The prosecutor made a similar request in November 2025 and a different judge rejected it.
What does PAMI have to do with it?
PAMI is the state health insurer for Argentine retirees, and it buys many of the same medical devices. The technical reports sent to the court use PAMI’s prices as a yardstick. On one transcatheter valve system, the disability agency paid 425 million pesos (about US$339,000) while PAMI had awarded the same system at 124.2 million pesos (about US$116,000).
What happens to the agency now?
The government announced in December 2025 that the agency would be folded into the Health Ministry, and disability policy is now run through a national secretariat. Alejandro Vilches, who had been placed in charge of the agency in August 2025, resigned on 21 September 2026. The appointment of Pablo Di Liscia to succeed him was made official on 28 September 2026.
Sources: Infobae on the arrest request and the filing lawyer’s standing, La Nación on the two technical reports, El Litoral on the grounds argued, Análisis Digital on the report findings in detail, Los Andes on the price comparisons, Boletín Oficial, Decree 96/2023 appointing Spagnuolo, Decree 599/2025 ending his appointment, Ámbito on the prosecutor’s 2025 detention request and the defence, Infobae on the forensic examination of the recordings, Chequeado on the agency and its dissolution, La Nación on who filed the original complaint, Banco Central de la República Argentina exchange rate series
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