Finance ministers come and go, but rarely do they leave through the bathroom. Not so Felisa Miceli. The Argentinean resigned last month after security inspectors found a bag containing $64,000 in cash -- in dollars and pesos -- in her office bathroom. Miceli insisted she had borrowed the money to buy a property, but opposition politicians said the incident smacked of corruption. The government has launched an investigation.
Fortunately for investors, this financial shake-up in Argentina, which rocked bondholders by defaulting on its debt in 2002, didn’t roil markets. Miceli’s replacement, former Industry secretary Miguel Peirano, is seen as a caretaker occupant until the October 28 presidential election, in which the front-runner is first lady Cristina Fernández, wife of President Néstor Kirchner.
