Abdala Bucaram sentenced to 9 years, 4 months

Former Ecuador president Abdala Bucaram and his son Jacobo were sentenced on Wednesday to nine years and four months in prison in a corruption case linked to the sale of medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bucaram heard the decision remotely from a clinic in Guayaquil, where he was receiving medical care for heart problems. Police officers guarded the facility.

Ecuador's attorney general's office said on X that Bucaram and his son were designated as collaborators in organized criminal activity in the first-instance ruling. The case involved the illegal sale of medical supplies, including Covid-19 test kits, and lasted six years.

The attorney general's office said two main perpetrators were each sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison. Another person implicated in the case was murdered inside a prison in August 2020.

Bucaram wrote on X earlier on Wednesday that he had asked to be discharged from the clinic “despite being at risk of sudden death,” adding that he would be able to defend himself.

A judge dismissed the charges against Bucaram and his son in 2021, but the trial continued after an appeal by the attorney general's office.

Ecuador's Congress removed Bucaram from office 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.