Trending 
Ecuador’s judiciary sentenced former president Abdala Bucaram and his son Jacobo to nine years and four months in prison on Wednesday for their role in a pandemic-era medical supply corruption scheme.
The attorney general’s office designated both men as collaborators in organised criminal activity following a six-year trial over the illegal sale of Covid-19 test kits and medical supplies.
A court handed the scheme’s two main perpetrators longer sentences of 13 years and four months, while another individual implicated in the case was murdered in prison in August 2020.
Bucaram heard the first-instance ruling under police guard from a clinic in Guayaquil, where he was receiving treatment for heart conditions.
Credit: Reuters
Before the verdict, the ex-president claimed on X that he requested a discharge despite facing a risk of sudden death, insisting he would clear his name and expose flaws in the judicial process.
CARTA DE ABDALÁ A MI PATRIA…
Informo al país que yo he pedido mi alta médica a pesar de estar en peligro de muerte súbita, a pesar de tener 13K arritmias ventriculares y debemos entender qué una sola puede originar mi muerte.
Hoy a las 17H00 me sentenciarán de 5 a 7 años de…
— Abdala Bucaram Ortiz (@abdalabucaram) September 9, 2026
This conviction follows a lengthy legal battle; a judge initially dismissed the charges against Bucaram and his son in 2021 before an appeal by the attorney general’s office reopened the trial.
This ruling marks another chapter in Bucaram’s turbulent political legacy.
Congress removed him from office for “physical and mental incapacity” in February 1997, just six months into his presidency, leading to a two-decade exile in Panama before his return to Ecuador.
