An Ecuadorian court convicted, this Wednesday, former president Abdalá Bucaram and his son Jacobo to nine years and four months in prison for the irregular sale of Covid-19 tests during the height of the pandemic in the country. Both were identified as "collaborators" in organized crime, the Public Ministry reported when announcing the first-instance sentence.
The former president heard the verdict remotely from a clinic in Guayaquil, in the southwest of the country, where he was receiving treatment for heart problems. The location was under police surveillance. The trial for the irregular sale of at least 21,000 Covid-19 diagnostic tests lasted six years.
The direct perpetrators of the crime, identified as Leandro B. and Sheinman O., were convicted to 13 years and four months in prison, according to the Ecuadorian Public Ministry. Another person involved in the case was assassinated in prison in August 2020.
