The reinsurance scheme uncovered by the case involving Alberto Fernández: millionaire commissions and dollar leaks

"She is my life", Alberto Fernández used to repeat when referring to his historic secretary, María Cantero. More than three decades passed. When the insurance scandal exploded, the former president tried to disassociate himself from that same person: "I did not ask for anyone, and if my secretary did it, she overreached herself". But it is not so easy. The woman is married to Héctor Martínez Sosa, one of the brokers who had the insurance monopoly with the State. Moreover, this businessman frequented the Olivos country house during the pandemic and even lent money to the former president. Strikingly, this debt remained intact during Fernández's time in the Casa Rosada.

Alberto Fernandez, his secretary, and the broker friend are now part of a scandal with unthinkable political and judicial overtones. "Perhaps the case of insurance that we have seen in the media is the best example, a system designed to generate an intermediary between State agencies in order to be able to collect returns from each operation", launched the president Javier Milei before the Congress. The Government had already given clear signals that it was going to push forward the complaint when it announced that it would be a plaintiff in the case.

The legal case started with a complaint filed by lawyer Silvina Martínez, who accused Fernández and Alberto Pagliano, former head of Nación Seguros. The filing was based on an article published by the deputy general editor of Clarín, Ricardo Roa, which detailed that within the ANSES a business of 20,000 million pesos per year and 300 million in monthly commissions was discovered with the insurance and the commissions of the intermediaries.

To this complaint was added another presentation of the deputies of the Civic Coalition Juan Manuel López and Paula Oliveto.

The first step was taken by the prosecutor Ramiro González, when he charged the former president and Pagliano, another friend of Fernández. The following day, Federal Judge Julián Ercolini requested the migratory movements of several people and a battery of reports to Nación Seguros, to the Sindicatura General de la Nación (SIGEN), to the Auditoría General de la Nación (AGN), and even to the Chief of Cabinet. These agencies are now in the hands of officials appointed by this government.

Ercolini was very precise in the official notice sent to Nación Seguros: he asked for the list of the companies that acted as co-insurers or reinsurers in the contracts entered into between State agencies and the insurance company now in the hands of Alfonso José Torres, a man of Eduardo "Lule" Menem.

This notification alerted dozens of companies and brokers linked to politics that have not yet come to light.

They are two different tools. Coinsurance is a mechanism used by local insurance companies to distribute the responsibility of a broad risk coverage. On the other hand, reinsurance is an insurance of insurance, where international companies and large financial entities are generally involved. "In our country there are no reinsurers for a catastrophic event or unexpected situations. That is why many risks are placed in the international market", explains a businessman who has been in the business for more than three decades.

The tool is often denaturalized, leaving millionaire commissions and more brokers benefiting. "There are cases that do not need reinsurance but are used anyway. Instead of taking a coinsurance in the country, they turn to the parent companies abroad. That is done to take out dollars at the official value that later come back as blue. On the other hand, they have a very low tax pressure (presumed profit 3.5%) against the 35% that they should pay here for profits", reveals another source in the insurance market.

Ercolini not only asked for the list of companies but also for "the list of insurance advisors (direct or organizing) who participated in the operations" with Nación Seguros as from decree 823/2021, which obliged all public agencies to contract with that firm.

That norm would be the kick-off of the maneuver. However, the former president said this week that this decree "ended the little business" of some people. "In 2021, I issued a regulation to end the insurance business in the State and I said in that regulation that all State assets and risks are insured with Nación Seguros and that this is done directly without intermediaries. In this way I put an end to the little business that someone could do", he said in declarations to La Red.

So far, Fernandez only defended himself in public but did not appear in Comodoro Py. The one who did appear this Friday was Juan Manuel Manganaro, president of the Gaman Group, who ruled out having commercial ties with the State. The broker appeared mentioned in the opinion of prosecutor González as "creditor of Alberto Fernández", but he does not appear in the last sworn statements of the former president.

"I do not know the former president, nor did I have, nor do I have any personal or commercial relationship with him, nor with the other insurance brokers mentioned in the different journalistic publications, nor do I share any commercial relationship with them", says the document filed by Manganaro to which this media had access.

The broker that appears in the last sworn statements is Martínez Sosa. Alberto Fernández said this week, in declarations to the newspaper La Nación, that the husband of his secretary lent him USD 20 thousand. The debt, however, remained intact since he became president: $102,240. For four years he repeated the same figure and the same alleged creditor. When he had to talk about his former friend, the former president clarified that he has not seen him for two years. And about his secretary, he repeated the same manual he applied with his partner, Fabiola Yáñez, before the scandal of the Olivos meeting; and with his friend and ex-partner, Marcela Losardo: he disassociated himself from his responsibility.

Martínez Sosa's company has been in the market for more than 50 years. It started in Buenos Aires but quickly settled in Río Grande (Tierra del Fuego), where it obtained a monopoly in insurance for at least two terms. He was first chosen as an intermediary in the government of Jorge Colazzo. "At the end of 2008, during the government of Fabiana Ríos, that contracting was terminated and we received all kinds of pressures," recalled a former official consulted by Infobae. In 2020, Governor Gustavo Melella signed an advisory contract with the broker and ceded again the control of all insurances. That relationship is still in place today.

His link with Alberto Fernández was not a mystery. In fact, all the actors of the sector place him among the three main brokers that negotiate with the State.

Justice has started to investigate this scheme, but it has already put the spotlight on reinsurance. "Although they are a technical instrument to maintain the solvency of the insurance companies and necessary for coverage whose capacity or solvency is insufficient in the local market, they are also in many cases a great vehicle for very controversial financial maneuvers", warns one of the many businessmen who are closely following the development of the investigation.