Ecuador's vice president has been sentenced to six years in prison for taking illegal kickbacks from a Brazilian construction giant.
Jorge Glas is highest-ranking politician to be convicted in the sprawling case centred on Odebrecht, whose practice of giving bribes to secure public works contracts has cast a cloud over officials and ex-officials in several Latin American countries.
Glas, 48, had been in preventive custody since October.
His trial before Ecuador's Supreme Court started last month and he was sentenced today.
Prosecutors said he received a total of $13.5 million in Odebrecht bribes, via an uncle who is also under arrest.
Fallout from the massive Odebrecht corruption scandal has continued to sweep Latin America.
The company, which has admitted to paying bribes to win contracts in a number of countries, has already paid $3.5billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and Switzerland.
A close ally of leftist ex-President Rafael Correa, Glas served as Correa's vice president from 2013 and retained the position under current President Lenin Moreno. Three other individuals have been sentenced to 14 months in prison in the same case, their sentences lightened by 'effective cooperation' with authorities, according to the verdict read by judge Edgar Flores.
In an October interview from prison in Quito, Glas said he was a victim of the construction giant's revenge after he was instrumental in kicking the company out of Ecuador in 2008 following a dispute over repair of a hydroelectric plant.
Glas, who was minister of strategic sectors before becoming vice president in 2013, denied any link to the Odebrecht scandal, though his uncle, Ricardo Rivera, has been arrested for his alleged involvement.
Under investigation by the US Justice Department, Odebrecht agreed in December to pay the record $3.5 billion fine after admitting to paying $788 million in bribes across 12 countries to secure contracts.
The scandal has ensnared politicians in several countries, including Mexico, Peru, Panama and Venezuela.
Ecuadoran prosecutors said Odebrecht spent $47.3 million in bribes in their country to get public contracts.
Ecuador's former president, Rafael Correa, told CNN Spanish from Panama that Glas was a 'political prisoner' and there was 'no evidence against him'.
He claimed the conviction was a way for his successor, President Lenin Moreno, to seize control of the vice president's office.
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