Court sentences former vice president Glas to 13 more years in prison for misusing public money

Former vice president Jorge Glas has been sentenced to 13 additional years in prison for misusing public funds allocated to rebuild areas affected by a devastating 2016 earthquake. Carlos Bernal, Secretary of Reconstruction following the earthquake, was also given a 13-year sentence in Monday’s decision by the National Court of Justice.

Former vice president Jorge Glas

The court applied the maximum sentence possible in both cases.

Glas, 55, is currently in prison for two prior corruption convictions and had been due for release in 2028, but the new sentence will extend his incarceration until 2041.

The funds for the reconstruction had been raised through a hike in the country’s VAT tax, and a judge in the case said Glas and Bernal committed embezzlement by using funds earmarked for reconstruction for unrelated projects, some benefiting friends and family members.

Glas’ lawyer argued there was no evidence of misappropriation of public funds for the personal benefit or that of third parties, nor harm to the national treasury, and said the case is being used as a tool of political persecution.

Former President Rafael Correa and members of Glas’ Citizens Revolution party attacked the sentences. “The court is obviously acting on behalf of the ruling illegal, right-wing regime in Quito,” Correa claimed in a social media post. “This is what we have come to expect.”

Glas, who served as vice president under Correa from 2013 to 2017, was captured by authorities following a raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito last year, which led to the severing of diplomatic ties between Ecuador and Mexico.