Former Ecuador President Bucaram Sentenced To 9 Years Over COVID-19 Medical Supplies Fraud | Sahara Reporters

Bucaram, 74, who briefly held the presidency between August 1996 and February 1997, may be permitted to serve his term under house arrest in line with Ecuadorean law provisions for elderly defendants, according to Reuters.

An Ecuadorean court has sentenced former President Abdala Bucaram to nine years and four months in prison over his role in a criminal network that fraudulently sold medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bucaram, 74, who briefly held the presidency between August 1996 and February 1997, may be permitted to serve his term under house arrest in line with Ecuadorean law provisions for elderly defendants, according to Reuters.

His son, Jacobo Bucaram, was also found guilty in the case and received an identical sentence.

In a statement announcing the ruling, the prosecutor’s office said the defendants had built an organized criminal structure that repeatedly and deliberately carried out illegal acts. Bucaram’s legal team has not issued a public response, though he retains the right to appeal.

The case involved four defendants accused by Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office of profiting from the procurement of roughly 21,000 rapid COVID-19 test kits and other medical equipment between March and August 2020 a period when Ecuador was grappling with one of the region’s most severe pandemic outbreaks.

Alongside Bucaram and his son, a former traffic police officer was handed a 13-year, four-month sentence, while an Israeli national received a lighter term of two years and eight months in exchange for cooperating with investigators.

Due to ongoing heart problems, Bucaram followed the proceedings via video link from a hospital in Guayaquil, the coastal city where he resides.

Investigators say traffic police officers provided security escorts for two foreign nationals transporting the medical supplies to Bucaram’s Guayaquil residence. According to the prosecutor’s office, those involved posed as diplomatic officials or agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to carry out the scheme.

One of the foreign nationals implicated in the case, identified only as Shy D, was killed inside a Guayaquil prison in August 2020 just days after giving testimony related to the investigation.