Former Argentine President Fernando de la Rua was formally charged here Wednesday with misuse of public funds in a case dating from his tenure as mayor of this capital, judicial sources announced. He was indicted in a case involving the hiring by the Buenos Aires local government of employees known in Argentina as “gnocchis,” after the potato-dumpling style pasta, because they only go to work once a month – on the 29th, the traditional date for eating that Italian dish – presumably to pick up their paychecks. The case stems from 1997-99, when De la Rua was the capital’s mayor, from which post he was catapulted into the presidency.Full Story