Ecuadorian justice system sentences Abdalá Bucaram and his son in corruption case
A court of justice in Ecuador issued a conviction this Monday against former president Abdalá Bucaram (1996-1997) and his son, Jacobo Bucaram, sentencing them to nine years and four months in prison. Both were found guilty of the crime of organized crime, related to the irregular sale of COVID-19 detection tests and various medical supplies during the 2020 health crisis.
Details of the court ruling
The judicial resolution also reached others involved in the criminal plot. Leandro Berrones, who served as an agent of the Metropolitan Transit Agency (AMT) of Quito, along with the Israeli citizen Sheinman Oren, were sentenced as direct perpetrators of the act, receiving a sentence of more than thirteen years and four months in prison.
In the case of the former president and his son, the justice system determined that their participation was in the capacity of collaborators within the criminal structure. The ruling puts an end to a judicial process that has closely followed the irregularities committed during a critical period for the country’s public health system.
The Prosecutor’s Office investigation
The court accepted the arguments presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, which had been requesting maximum sentences for the defendants since last May. According to the investigation, those involved were part of a network that operated between March and August 2020, taking advantage of the health emergency to obtain illicit financial gains.
- The criminal scheme focused on the irregular sale of approximately 21,000 tests to detect the coronavirus.
- The structure also marketed other essential medical supplies in the midst of the pandemic.
- The prosecution managed to demonstrate the existence of an organized network that sought to profit from the crisis that Ecuador was going through at that time.
Justice has determined that the defendants collaborated with a criminal structure that obtained economic benefits by taking advantage of the commercialization of medical supplies during the health emergency.
