Ex-Economy Minister Given Suspended Prison Sentence

Former economy minister Felisa Miceli was handed a three-year suspended prison sentence yesterday, more than two years after being found guilty of illicit financial activity while in office.

In June 2007, a bag containing $100,000 and US$31,670 in cash was discovered in Miceli’s private office as economy minister in the Néstor Kirchner administration.

Miceli, who resigned a month later, claimed the cash came from loans taken out to purchase a property but was unable to prove this. In December 2012, a Federal Court found her guilty of covering up an “illicit financial manoeuvre” as well as concealing public documents related to the case.

At that point she was handed four years in prison, a sentence that was reduced yesterday after Miceli – who claimed she had committed a “mistake” but not a crime – had appealed.

Miceli’s reduced sentence is conditional on her remaining at a fixed address, while she is also prohibited from taking public office for six years. The verdict also ordered the confiscation of the $100,000 that was part of the crime.

Speaking before the court’s ruling yesterday, the ex minister said she “regretted taking the money” calling it an error and stating that she would “never again” seek a job in public office.

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