Argentine federal agents carried out at least 15 raids on 22 August as part of a widening investigation into an alleged kick-back scheme at the state-run disability agency, ANDIS. Police searched private homes, the agency’s Buenos Aires headquarters and pharmaceutical distributor Suizo Argentina, seizing mobile phones, computers and about US$266,000 in cash, according to court documents cited by local media. The operation was ordered by Judge Sebastián Casanello, who also imposed travel bans and froze safe-deposit boxes of several suspects. The inquiry was triggered by leaked audio recordings in which a voice identified as Diego Spagnuolo, the agency’s director until last week, describes illicit payments tied to medicine purchases and claims the scheme was known to President Javier Milei’s inner circle. Spagnuolo was dismissed “as a preventive measure” on 21 August and has not commented publicly. The recordings implicate the president’s sister and chief of staff, Karina Milei, and adviser Eduardo “Lule” Menem; neither has been charged and both deny wrongdoing. Opposition lawmakers have requested that Karina Milei and Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos testify in Congress, while prosecutors analyse the seized material. The scandal comes on the heels of a tense week for the government: the Chamber of Deputies mustered 83 votes against, 160 in favour and six abstentions, narrowly allowing the president to preserve a veto that blocked a costly pension increase, but other spending bills have advanced against his wishes. Investors reacted nervously to the corruption probe, sending Argentina’s sovereign dollar bonds lower and pressuring the peso in parallel-market trading. President Milei, campaigning ahead of September provincial elections, has blamed rivals for seeking to “incendiar el país” but avoided direct comment on the case. The judge’s findings, expected in the coming weeks, will determine whether the affair deepens into formal corruption charges that could complicate the government’s austerity drive.