Ecuador’s judiciary sentenced former president Abdala Bucaram and his son Jacobo to nine years and four months in prison on Wednesday in a corruption case linked to the sale of medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bucaram, who was removed from office in 1997, heard the decision remotely from a clinic in Guayaquil where he was receiving medical care for heart problems, while police officers guarded the facilty.
The ex-president and his son were designated as “collaborators” in organized criminal activity, the attorney general’s office said on X when announcing the first-instance ruling.
The trial over the illegal sale of medical supplies, including Covid-19 test kits, lasted six years.
The two main perpetrators were each sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison, according to the attorney general’s office.
Another person implicated in the case was murdered inside a prison in August 2020.
Earlier in the day, Bucaram posted a message on X saying that he asked to be discharged from the clinic “despite being at risk of sudden death.”
“I will be able to defend myself, and the country will learn the horrifying things about this process,” he added.
A judge dismissed the charges against Bucaram and his son in 2021, but the trial continued following an appeal from the attorney general’s office.
Ecuador’s Congress dismissed Bucaram in February 1997, six months after he took office, on the grounds of “physical and mental incapacity.” He lived in exile in Panama for two decades.
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