Argentine Navy suspends nine military personnel over million-peso fraud in salaries and expenses
The Argentine Navy has preventively suspended nine military personnel implicated in a fraud scheme involving the processing of salaries of approximately $981 million.
Nine military personnel suspended from Navy over alleged fraud in salary processing
The Argentine Navy has ordered the preventive suspension of nine members of the force following the detection of an alleged fraud scheme in the processing of salaries and expenses, according to conclusion.com.ar. The amount involved totals $981,148,567.88 and the scheme is believed to have operated between July 2022 and January 2026.
The irregularity consisted of the alteration of banking records prior to the dispatch of payment batches to Banco de la Nación Argentina, a mechanism that benefited 23 people in total.
Navy chief Admiral Juan Carlos Romay signed the administrative measure suspending eight corvette captains and one warrant officer from their duties. All of them will be subject to the Disciplinary Code of the Armed Forces.
In an official statement, the institution—under the Ministry of Defence—confirmed that it "has ordered the suspension from duties of military personnel involved in proceedings being conducted due to irregularities detected in the accreditation of salaries". The measure, the Navy specified, "will remain in effect until the eventual disciplinary responsibility of the personnel involved is determined".
The file originated from an internal investigation that detected anomalies in salary accreditation. Among the suspended personnel is naval captain Ariel Baltasar Atanasoff, chief of the Navy's Records Department, whose wife, María del Carmen Prieto, is listed as a beneficiary of irregular payments. According to official sources, Prieto received $152,259,495.86 through 46 transfers.
The criminal complaint was filed with Federal Court for Criminal and Correctional Matters No. 2. The filing also names three individuals outside the naval force: Andrés Santana, who received $99.4 million; Amalia Cristina Díaz, who obtained $91.9 million; and Natalia Carolina Yahia, with $90.4 million credited to her account.
In its statement, the Navy reaffirmed its "zero-tolerance policy against any situation of fraud, corruption, irregularity or conduct contrary to the ethics and values that govern the Institution".
Source: Google News AR — Crime