Summary Miceli was Argentina's first woman economy minister, but suffered a high-profile downfall in 2007.
BUENOS AIRES (AFP) - Argentina s former economy minister Felisa Miceli was given a three-year suspended sentence for corruption Monday, dodging prison time on appeal after the discovery of $64,000 stashed in her office bathroom.
Miceli, 62, was Argentina s first woman economy minister, but suffered a high-profile downfall in 2007 when a routine security search at the ministry turned up a bag containing $31,730 and 100,000 Argentine pesos (then $32,200) in a cupboard in her bathroom.
She maintained the cash was a personal loan from her brother and a friend to make a down-payment on a house, but was convicted and later sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
She appealed and will escape jail time under Monday s sentence, as long as she is not convicted of any new crimes in the next three years.
The court also barred her from holding public office for six years.
Miceli was appointed in 2005 by then-president Nestor Kirchner, the late husband of current President Cristina Kirchner.
