A CRIMINAL court in Ecuador yesterday sentenced the suspended vice-president, Jorge Glas, to six years in prison for illicit association within the bribery scheme run by Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

This is the first sentence handed down in Ecuador within the Odebrecht case. Four others were sentenced to the same penalty as Glas, including his uncle, Ricardo Rivera.

Three other people were condemned to 14 months in prison, a reduced sentence in exchange for having cooperated with authorities. A final suspect was found not guilty.

Furthermore, given the scale of the corruption involved, the sentenced individuals must jointly pay back the state for US$33.3 million (RM135.6 million) which were embezzled.

Judge Edgar Flores, president of the National Justice Court, said that this corruption had also included other crimes, including influence peddling and money laundering.

He added that the court had received evidence from the US Department of Justice and a former Odebrecht executive, Jose Conceicao Santos.

Glas, 48, was the minister of telecommunications from 2009 to 2010 before serving as vice-president since 2013 to former president Rafael Correa and current president Lenin Moreno.

He has been in preventive custody in Quito since October 2. However, during the trial, he has steadfastly maintained his innocence and refused to step down as vice-president.

Glas is now the highest-ranking official to be jailed within the Odebrecht corruption scandal, which has swept Latin America.

Odebrecht, Brazil’s largest construction company, was found to have bribed officials across the region in exchange for public infrastructure contracts.

According to documents provided by the US, Odebrecht paid out US$33.5 million in bribes to Ecuadorian officials between 2007 and 2016.

Glas has the possibility of appealing the sentence but the national assembly may now also move to quickly impeach him. – Bernama, December 14, 2017.