Argentina's federal courts smell blood, activates Milei government corruption cases

President Javier Milei’s government faces at least five concerning court cases probing alleged corruption: the investigation into Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni for illicit enrichment, possible fraud in the launch of the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency, the investigation of the overpricing in the invoicing of the medicine and orthopaedic items distributed by the now dissolved ANDIS (Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad) national disability agency, the case of corporate credit card over-spending at Nucleoeléctrica SA, the state-owned operator of the country’s three nuclear power plants (with the investigation into its ex-president Demian Reidel starting his week) and questions surrounding the Banco Nación mortgage loans obtained by Economy Ministry officials, deputies allied to the government and officials from the circle of the Menem family.

The names of those in charge of these cases repeat themselves – Adorni is being investigated by federal prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita and federal judge Ariel Lijo, who this week ordered an analysis of telephone calls between Marcelo Grandio and Horacio Silva, president of the IMHouse producers.

The Adorni family’s air fares to Punta del Este for the last Carnival long weekend were invoiced to IMHouse with the return journey in the name of Grandio, a journalist with a TV Pública programme who is a friend of the official.

The ANDIS case is being handled by prosecutor Franco Picardi, with Lijo the acting judge. Until February it was in the charge of Sebastián Casanello, who placed a dozen people on trial with the accused appearing in court starting late April to amplify their questioning at Picardi’s request. In most  cases they refuse to testify, a right which benefits them.

The $LIBRA cryptocurrency case is in the hands of prosecutor Eduardo Taiano (who has questioned by the plaintiffs for the amount of time taken to define his moves) and judge Marcelo Martínez De Giorgi. 

Prosecutor Ramiro González is in charge of Nucleoeléctrica case, before judge Sebastián Ramos. 

In the case of the Banco Nación mortgage credits there is a jurisdictional conflict between judge María Eugenia Capuchetti and Lijo, which the Federal Appeals Court will now have to resolve.

Within the Comodoro Py federal courthouse in Retiro, sources say the corruption cases involving government officials “will advance” and that in some investigations, witnesses will be presenting themselves in court to testify.

“The cases against the government have a life of their own,” indicated senior judicial sources, underlining the quantity of evidence collected in many cases as overwhelming, as shown by the torrent of information circulating in Whatsapp and Excel messages leaked online.

Casefile contents that have reached the press include details of expenses of architect Matías Tabar, the person in charge of remodelling Adorni’s Indio Cuá gated community house.

Tabar, in his statement to Pollicita, says that Adorni paid US$245.000 in cash without presenting any invoice. Adorni’s entourage faults the contractor for that omission.

Two Argentines in New York. 

Adorni’s headaches began in early March when the Radio Jai radio station shared a photo of him with his wife Bettina Angeletti in New York at the tomb of the Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known to adherents of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement as the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Adorni had travelled to the United States to participate in the Argentina Week investment roadshow, but the appearance of his wife alongside him led to a flurry of questions. From that moment on, the eagle eye of the courts fell on the official with revelations emerging about his trips, property purchases and reforms not a priori in accordance with his earnings. 

Adorni now faces an investigation for presumed illicit enrichment, which week after week adds new data and revelations.

On May 6, Leandro Miano testified before prosecutor Pollicita, ratifying statements by his partner Pablo Martín Feijoo about a debt run up by Adorni for US$65,000 related to the purchase and sale of a Caballito property where the official lives. Miano and Feijoo are partners in TJS Group real-estate developers and in the Avda SRL  construction company.

Feijoo is the father of a friend of Adorni’s children who offered to buy the flat which had been acquired last May by pensioners Claudia Sbabo and Beatriz Viegas, the latter being Feijoo’s mother. The transaction was made last November. Feijoo told the prosecutor that Adorni had US$30,000 for the purchase of the property, for which they agreed on payment via an interest-free mortgage of US$200,000 for Sbabo and Viegas.

Without doubt, the most potent evidence in almost two months of court investigation was supplied by the architect Tabar in his testimony to Pollicita on May 4, stating that the Cabinet chief paid him US$245,000 in cash for refurbishments to his property including remodelling the swimming-pool with the installation of the now famous garden waterfall, galleries and furniture.  Tabar provided an Excel document with the list of expenses and his Whatsapp and text messages exchanges with Adorni.

On the day Tabar’s statements became known, media close to the government branded him as a “Kirchnerite” but according to an article by journalist Juan Cruz Soqueira in Perfil, an analysis of his social network activities reveals a heterogeneous political stance. In a 2019 post, he was expressing support for Diego Nanni, a Peronist leader in Exaltación de la Cruz, but more recently he has appeared linked to content supporting Manuel Adorni, with comments aligned with La Libertad Avanza.

The courts are analysing transactions related to five properties of Adorni or his wife Bettina Angeletti: the flat in Asamblea Street in Parque Chacabuco (up for sale), the one on Miró Street in Caballito, the Indio Cuá gated community house in Exaltación de la Cruz, a property in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Morón, reportedly under the name Angeletti and a flat in La Plata, the home city of the Cabinet chief. 

More recently Pollicita’s office is known to have received details from the inheritance of the Cabinet chief’s father: terrain in Daireaux (Buenos Aires Province) and a flat in La Plata, of which he inherited 33 percent.

The cases involving government officials will advance but in the courthouses they explain that “this is not revenge.” Nobody can anticipate the outcome.