Stornelli asked Judge Lijo to investigate Vizzotti, together with Sigman, Figueiras and Artola, and the infectologist Cahn, for delays in the purchase of vaccines that would have favored businesses in the pharmaceutical sector
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Federal prosecutor Carlos Stornelli asked federal judge Ariel Lijo to cite former Health Minister Carla Vizzotti, businessman Hugo Sigman, infectologist Pedro Cahn and other former officials and executives as part of a case investigating delays in the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19, which occurred six years ago during the pandemic. In a 30-sided request for investigation, the prosecutor argued that there was a “matrix of corruption, influence peddling and conflict of interest”, in which officials of the nefarious Kirchner government of Alberto Fernández would have privileged private businesses over the health emergency. The central hypothesis is that the State deliberately delayed the acquisition of vaccines from Pfizer to favor laboratories with “local partners”
in Argentina.
According to the opinion, in August 2020, Pfizer offered the country a delivery schedule of 13,200,000 doses, of which 3,000,000 were to arrive between the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021, a key period for immunizing the at-risk population. However, the Government decided to move forward with other alternatives such as AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sputnik V, which, according to the prosecution, resulted in the loss of the reserved space and a delay harmful to the country
. Former Minister of Health, Carla Vizzotti
Stornelli remarked that “around the contracts investigated here, there would have been other interests, possibly illegal, that were weighted above the health of the population”, and warned that these decisions “are not about futile or innocuous issues”, since the delay in negotiating with Pfizer reduced the available doses and delayed their arrival in the midst of
a health emergency.
To justify the delay, Ministry of Health officials have argued legal obstacles linked to Law 26,944 on State Responsibility, demanding immunity clauses that the prosecutor described as “unprecedented”. However, a subsequent legal opinion concluded that the rule “does not constitute any impediment to the inclusion of an indemnity clause”, thus weakening the official position
at that time. The businessman, Hugo Sigman
The research also focuses on a network of links between officials and private sector actors. Stornelli identified businessman Hugo Sigman, owner of the Insud Group and of firms such as Elea Phoenix and MabXience, as one of the main beneficiaries of contracts linked to AstraZeneca and Sinopharm. According to the prosecutor, several of those involved were “located on both sides of the desk”, that is, with interests crossed between the State and the laboratories
.
In this context, it should be noted that Sonia Tarragona, who participated in the failed negotiation with Pfizer, had been General Director of the Mundo Sano Foundation —chaired by Sigman's wife— between 2008 and 2013.In turn, the opinion indicates that Carla Vizzotti provided services for the Guest Foundation and for Vaccinar SA between 2017 and 2020. The Guest Foundation, founded by Pedro Cahn, would have been subcontracted by Elea Phoenix to carry out clinical trials of the Sinopharm vaccine and, in turn, would have assigned tasks to
Vaccinate.
The file also mentions Richmond Laboratories, chaired by Marcelo Figueiras, who obtained the concession of the Russian Direct Investment Fund to produce the Sputnik V component in the country. In contrast to the speed in approving these agreements, the prosecutor emphasized the “bureaucratic lethargy” applied to Pfizer, whose files had been handled in a “disorderly” way in the GEDO system, leaving for months without progress in official offices
. The infectologist, Pedro Cahn The case also includes references to former Health Minister Ginés González García, based on complaints made by Patricia Bullrich, who accused him of having stopped negotiations with Pfizer in search of a financial “return” through intermediaries.
However, due to his death on October 18, 2024, the prosecutor requested that the criminal action against him be dismissed
.
Finally, Stornelli requested that the defendants be investigated for crimes of abuse of authority, breach of the duties of a public official and negotiations incompatible with the public service (arts. 248, 249 and 265 of the Criminal Code). Among those mentioned are, in addition to Vizzotti, Mauricio Alberto Monsalve, Juan Manuel Castelli, Sonia Gabriela Tarragona and Cecilia Nicolini, together with businessmen and
