Who is María Cantero, Alberto Fernández's historic secretary that the former president himself involved in the ANSES scandal?

"I cannot guarantee that she has not done such a thing". With this phrase, Alberto Fernández sought to dissociate himself, today, from the shock wave caused by the scandal detected in the ANSES during his administration as President, between 2019 and 2023, which has already led to a judicial complaint and a thorough review of the insurance policies contracted by the different areas of government in that period of time.

When the former President -in statements granted to La Nación- speaks of "she", he refers to one of his historical private secretaries, María Cantero, married to the insurance broker Héctor Martínez Sosa, mentioned in a possible corruption case due to the irregularities that Javier Milei's management found in the public agency.

María, and her sister Viviana, have been with Alberto Fernández for more than 20 years. They fulfilled different functions when he was a Buenos Aires legislator, when he was Néstor Kirchner's Chief of Staff, and also during his term as President of the Nation. The Cantero sisters are daughters of a powerful real estate businessman who branched out "Cantero Propiedades" from 2000 Rivadavia Street, in the area of Congreso, to different parts of the city of Buenos Aires.

María Cantero and insurance broker Héctor Martínez Sosa live in the same neighborhood in Zona Norte as the former mayor of San Fernando, Luis Andreotti, father of the current mayor, Juan Francisco. Among those who know the house and the couple's routine, there is a rumor that there is a vault in the back of the building, where a gymnasium is installed.

There is little public information about María, beyond some mention by Fernández himself, and the resolutions in official bulletins about their respective functions. Her sister, on the other hand, keeps her Linkedin profile active with the following description: "Ability to deal with unions and high-ranking officials of public agencies. Experience in teamwork and work environment improvement. Synergize my daily work with social actions".

The origin of the scandal

Before leaving his position as head of ANSES, Osvaldo Giordano ordered the reversal of a 20 billion pesos contract with Nación Seguros, a scheme that enabled the intervention of intermediary brokers that had been implemented during the presidential administration of Alberto Fernández.

The scheme of opaque contracts with the insurance sector -an activity that the former President knows in depth because he started his political activity there- was revealed in a column by the Deputy General Editor of Clarín, Ricardo Roa, entitled "Destapan otra caja negra de la política en la ANSES" (Uncovering another black box of the ANSES policy).

In the aforementioned article, the journalist said that Giordano investigated how this business of 20,000 million pesos per year and 300 million in monthly commissions with insurance and commissions from intermediaries was conducted. In the investigation, in particular, Roa mentioned the broker Pablo Torres García, a powerful businessman linked to Juan Schiaretti's Peronism in Córdoba, especially Horacio "El Flaco" Miró, a former provincial official during the administration of José Manuel De la Sota.

In Nación Seguros, the lawyer Alberto Pagliano, a friend from his youth who accompanied him when he started, in the 90's, in that field but on the State side, was in charge during the four years that Alberto Fernández held the presidency. It is a common past that also goes back to the beginnings of Provincia Seguros, the company created to be in charge of providing coverage to the government of the Province of Buenos Aires.

Specifically, the doubts arose from some maneuvers that would have been carried out within the framework of Resolution 2/2022, of the Executive Sub-Directorate for the Operation of the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS), which approved the request for the services of Nación Seguros. According to the text, the state-owned company, which belongs to the financial group of Banco Nación, was to take charge of "the coverage of Collective Life Insurance on Debit Balance for the beneficiaries taking loans within the 'ANSeS Credits' Program, for the credit lines destined to holders of the Argentine Integrated Pension System (SIPA), Non-Contributory Benefits (PNC), Senior Citizen Pension (PUAM), Universal Child Allowance (AUH) and Family Allowances (SUAF)".

In other words, every time the agency granted a loan to a retiree or beneficiary of any of the aforementioned social plans, it had to take out a life insurance policy for that person and could only do so through this state-owned company. In this intermediation, according to the investigation that official sources confirmed that it is in ANSES, commissions of about 17% were charged, three times the normal market rate.

The order for this contracting was signed by Lisandro Pablo Cleri, who was the Deputy Executive Director of Operations of the FGS, a leader of long trajectory and who a few months after this decision would leave his position in the social security agency to become a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank, as part of the Cabinet reshuffle after Sergio Massa took office in the Ministry of Economy.

The resolution in question was taken in compliance with Decree 823/2021, which was issued a year before by order of the then President, his Chief of Cabinet, Juan Manzur, and the then Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán. It established that all the entities of the National Public Sector "shall implement the contracting of the insurance policies required in the exercise of their management through Nación Seguros S.A. in all the branches in which such institution operates".

But the fourth article of the regulation clarified that, in turn, this company "may, in the event that the types of risks so require or the insured amounts exceed the maximum limits of retention in its charge", give participation in the form of coinsurance, "to other entities authorized to operate in insurance matters". Here the entry of intermediaries was enabled and they had to be well connected, since no bidding or bidding process would have been generated for their contracting. Here appeared Torres García and, according to Roa's revelation, another broker, Héctor Martínez Sosa, who is married to a secretary of the former president.

"The percentages to be offered to other entities in the market must be proportionate with respect to its equity liability and other indicators considered for its evaluation and for such offers, and, if applicable, with the eventual participation of reinsurance entities from the local market and/or admitted reinsurers from abroad, within the regulatory framework in force," the regulations detailed.

The policies in question were issued for a term of 12 months and were originally due to expire on March 2, 2023, but the administration of Alberto Fernández chose to make use of the extension "only once and for an equal term", so that they were extended until the same date, but this year. According to Infobae, in view of possible irregularities in the contracts and in the commissions charged for the insurance policies of retirees and beneficiaries of social plans who took out a loan with the ANSES, a court case could be opened.