A series of 14 raids were carried out in the last few hours by the Buenos Aires City Police in the case opened by the audio recordings of the dismissed former head of the National Agency for Disability (ANDIS), Diego Spagnuolo, in which he revealed alleged bribe payments by the Suizo Argentina drugstore.

At the same time, addresses registered in Spagnuolo's name were also raided in an attempt to seize his cell phone.

The former official wasn't found during the initial operations, but around noon, he was found in a gated community in Pilar, where he was allegedly hiding. There, he was detained but not arrested, and his cell phone was searched, which could contain key evidence.

Previously, they had raided the home of Daniel Garbellini, former National Director of Access to Health Services at ANDIS.

The leaked audios of Diego Spagnuolo

The raids were carried out at the request of federal prosecutor Franco Picardi as part of the investigation into audio recordings exposing an alleged bribery scheme involving Karina Milei. The complaint was filed by Cristina Kirchner's lawyer, Gregorio Dalbón. Before the raids became public, the former president questioned Milei on social media about the alleged bribery case.

According to judicial sources confirmed to Clarín, the searches ordered by Judge Sebastián Casanello include a gag order.

The list of addresses approved for the operations began at the ANDIS headquarters, which Spagnuolo headed until the scandal became public.

In addition, the operation requested by the prosecutor's office included the Suizo Argentino S.A. drugstore, the largest supplier of medications to the National Disability Agency. From there, the officers involved in the raid took documentation related to the case (purchases, medication tenders), as well as computers.

Diego Spagnuolo with Javier Milei in Olivos.

The search warrant targeted the home of Emmanuel Kovalivker, one of the owners of Suizo Argentina. Judicial sources indicated that nearly $200,000 was seized, along with the businessman's electronic device.

Spagnuolo mentions the Swiss-Argentine company in the audio recordings as one of the pharmaceutical companies that paid the alleged bribes for the President's sister and his right-hand man, Lule Menem.

The ousted official's home was searched at several addresses, but they couldn't find him. They were looking for his cell phone.

During one of the proceedings in Nordelta, a large amount of dollars distributed in different envelopes was seized from a vehicle in which Emmanuel Kovalivker was traveling, judicial sources explained to Clarín.

At that point, there is documentation on the tenders, transfers made to the drugstore, and contracts, among other things.

The criminal complaint was filed against Javier Milei, President of the Nation; Karina Milei, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Nation; Eduardo"Lule" Menem, an official of the General Secretariat; Diego Spagnuolo, Executive Director of the National Agency for Disability (ANDIS); and Eduardo Kovalivker, owner of the Suizo Argentina drugstore.

The suspicion is that all of them"would have participated in a scheme of collection and payment of bribes related to the purchase and supply of medicines, with direct impact on public funds, facts that fall under the crimes of bribery, fraudulent administration, negotiations incompatible with the exercise of public functions and violation of the Public Ethics Law, and the maneuver should be analyzed as an illicit association between the actors indicated here."

It all began with leaked audio recordings of Diego Spagnuolo, director of the National Disability Agency (ANDIS), in which he talks about the existence of an institutionalized corruption mechanism in the purchase of medicines.

What is revealed in the audio recordings—the complaint states—"confirms the structured corruption scheme involving the country's highest political hierarchy and strategic operators. Javier and Karina Milei appear as direct beneficiaries of the return of diverted funds, Eduardo"Lule" Menem and Diego Spagnuolo as intermediaries in the corrupt scheme."

In the audio recordings, Spagnuolo claims to have learned of the scheme and describes how it would have worked: "Of what they charge for medicines, you have to pay 8%, you have to bring it to Suizo and we will upload it to the Presidency."

In the audio, Spagnuolo says he informed the President of the scheme so he could intervene and defuse it, adding that he is not part of the corruption scheme he allegedly sought to combat.

The same official adds in another section of the audio recordings:"Karina receives 3% and 1% goes to the operation," he says. In another passage, Spagnuolo asserts:"I spoke with the President. I have all of Karina's WhatsApp messages... He's not involved, but all of his people are involved. They're going to ask the providers for money."