Argentina has week to present debt case Argentina has a week to marshal arguments as it tries to convince a US court that it should not have to pay $1.33bn to holders of its defaulted debt. It could be a tough week. On Friday, the day that Argentina must submit its brief to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, the International Monetary Fund's board meets to decide whether to censure the country for its faulty inflation data in what would be an unprecedented step and an embarrassment for the member of the G20 group of leading economies. IN Americas Business Funds led by Elliott, which spurned two offers to restructure the nearly $100bn on which Argentina defaulted in 2001, urged the court in briefs filed late on Friday to uphold an earlier ruling by New York judge Thomas Griesa, which is frozen, ordering Argentina to pay "holdouts" when it paid holders of its performing debt. That order sought to ensure respect for the pari passu, or in equal step, clause in the defaulted bonds by ensuring that Argentina could not pick and choose between payment obligations. The Second Circuit court had asked Judge Griesa to clarify how his order would work in practice and the written arguments are the prelude to a February 27 courtroom showdown, after which the Second Circuit will rule. While Judge Griesa's order tried to prevent banks and agents from helping Argentina move payment out of New York - raising the spectre of a fresh default if Buenos Aires refused to pay the holdouts - Elliott and other funds reject fears that the case will imperil future sovereign restructurings and New York's pivotal role in world finance. The messy case, has, however, revived calls for an IMF-backed bankruptcy regime for countries. As this court already has affirmed, Argentina has the means to meet all of its obligations. Its choice not to do so would be entirely its own," the Elliott brief said. Argentina's stance would, furthermore, be the death knell to truly voluntary sovereign restructurings, it argued. It likened Argentina's stance of offering "pennies on the dollar" to creditors and repudiating any that rejected the offer to Captain Renault in the movie "Casablanca," when he said: "It is a little game we play. They put it on the bill, I tear up the bill. It is very convenient. But Elliott added: "Capital will not follow such capriciousness indefinitely, and the emerging market countries most in need of external funding ultimately will be the ones who suffer if creditors lose faith that their contracts will be enforced." This brief puts pressure on the government Eugenio Bruno, lawyer Argentina, which says it is barred by the US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and its own law from complying with Judge Griesa's order, has belatedly floated the idea of reopening its debt restructuring as a fair solution, arguing that more than 92 per cent of creditors swapped their defaulted debt for new bonds in restructurings in 2005 and 2010. But Elliott rejected any attempt to "cram down" holdouts and said Buenos Aires was trying to rehash old ground and the appeals court process "was not an opportunity for plenary reconsideration, much less an invitation to Argentina to begin haggling with the court." It accused Argentina of "grasping at straws." "This brief puts pressure on the government," said Eugenio Bruno, a lawyer in Buenos Aires who is advising performing bondholders. He expected the government to try to beef up its foreign sovereign immunity arguments and stress that payments to bondholders are protected by trust agreements. Argentina said Judge Griesa ruling threatened its ability to service $24bn in restructured debt. Meanwhile, a holdout lobby group, the American Task Force Argentina, has organised a rally by a small body of Argentine pensioners in New York on Tuesday "to decry ... [the government's] refusal to honour its ongoing debt obligations and restore their life savings." The task force group said the case had affected tens of thousands of ageing creditors.