Ecuador’s Former Vice President Faces 13-Year Prison Sentence

2025-07-01 02:39:58

(MENAFN) Ecuador's former Vice President, Jorge Glas, was handed a 13-year prison sentence for embezzling public funds allocated for the 2016 earthquake recovery, local media reported Monday.

The sentence was delivered unanimously by a tribunal of the National Court of Justice after six days of hearings, according to Ecuadorian newspapers.

The court found that Glas, alongside Carlos Bernal, the former head of the Reconstruction Committee, exploited their positions to divert funds. They prioritized non-essential projects, ignoring critical reconstruction needs in the provinces of Manabi and Esmeraldas, which were devastated by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 600 people.

Glas, who is already serving time for two previous corruption convictions, attended the hearings and denied all charges. He maintained that he had no role in managing the reconstruction funds.

This decision is a first-instance ruling, meaning it can still be appealed.

Glas was arrested in April 2024 following a raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he had sought asylum since December 2023.

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