Jorge Glas receives six year sentence for graft

An Ecuadorean court has found former Vice President Jorge Glas guilty of receiving bribes from Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht, in return for handling the scandal-ridden state firm’s contracts.

The Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht, admitted to paying bribes to win contracts in a number of countries and has paid $3.5 billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland.

Odebrecht allegedly paid more than $33 million in bribes to secure contracts in Ecuador. The public prosecutor’s office accused Glas of pocketing roughly $13 million bribe from Odebrecht through his uncle.

Glas is a close ally of leftist ex-President Rafael Correa and served as Correa’s vice president from 2013 and retained the position under current, President Lenin Moreno.