An Ecuadorian court on Wednesday sentenced former President Abdoulaye Bucaram (1996-1997) and his son Jacobo to nine years and four months in prison on organized crime charges, for illegally selling coronavirus tests and other medical supplies in 2020.
In addition to Bu Karam and his son, who were convicted of espionage, he is a former party agent Quito Metropolitan Transit Agency (AMT) He was identified as Leandro Perones, who was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison; While Israeli citizen Shenman Oren was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison due to his cooperation with justice.
The judges accepted the theory of the Public Prosecutor in the case, who had requested last May that the four defendants be convicted after being accused of “collaborating, between March and August 2020, with a criminal structure that obtained economic benefits,” in favor of Marketing about 21,000 tests to detect the Corona virus And other medical supplies during a health emergency.
The judges ordered Bukaram and his son to pay A A fine of about $9,640.
According to his lawyer, he was unable to recover from this intervention.
The former president remained in the hospital in North Guayaquil Hospital – the most populous city in the country where he has been residing – since last week.
The judges had ordered his arrest at the time of his discharge from the hospital for medical reasons. This Wednesday, when the hospital authorized his departure, the court was notified, so he was contacted via video call and under police surveillance to inform him of the decision.
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What is the background of the case?
According to the tax investigation, two Israelis, Oren and another who were killed in 2020 in Litoral Prison, the most populous and dangerous prison in the country and located in Guayaquil, were responsible for transporting the evidence in the custody of agents from the Quito transit office to the home of the former president, who “It also stocked up on other medical supplies, such as masks and scalpels for taking samples.”
Furthermore, some of those involved pretended to belong to the diplomatic corps and the armed forces United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for packing.
The tests were marketed in several governorates in the country “No bills and no state taxes”According to the Public Ministry.
Two other traffic agents, who were The presidential security escorts have already been sentenced in this case They received reduced sentences after accepting the alleged acts.
Former President Bukaram He was exiled for two decades in Panama and returned to Ecuador in 2017when the alleged corruption crimes for which he was wanted by the Ecuadorian judicial system ended.