Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, according to dpa. Eight others were also handed different sentences, prosecutors announced Wednesday. The convicts will have to pay a total of 33.5 million dollars in damages to the state. Prosecutors earlier said that Glas gave Odebrecht contracts in exchange for kickbacks while he was coordinating minister for strategic sectors between 2010 and 2012 and vice president from 2013. The vice president was suspected of having accepted more than 13 million dollars in bribes. The corruption verdict was the first against a serving vice president in the history of the South American country. Glas' lawyer said he would appeal the "barbaric" sentence and that his client would not resign. The vice president, who has been under arrest since October 2, has been stripped of public duties. Odebrecht is believed to have created a massive regional corruption network that allowed it to expand rapidly across Latin America.
