After complaints from the public and news appeared on social networks and the media, the Prosecutor’s Office began an investigation in June 2020, against people who were engaged in the sale of drugs.
Four people were sentenced to eight, seven and five years of imprisonment for their participation in the crime of organized crime, accused of participating in the sale of medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, in Guayaquil.
Among those sentenced are Noé S. B. and Abraham M. V., along with two former officials of the Guasmo Sur Hospital in Guayaquil.
At the trial hearing held in the Albán Borja Judicial Unit, for twelve days, the prosecutor of the Public Administration Unit, César Suárez Pilay, presented more than five pieces of evidence against the defendants, including: the investigative reports and from the technical visual inspection of Criminalistics of the National Police, allegedly false credentials found in the possession of those investigated and that would belong to another of the defendants in this case, Abraham MV; the extraction of information from videos and audios obtained from social networks and the version of a witness.
In addition, the certifications obtained from legal requests derived by various areas of the health entity (Guasmo Sur Hospital), for the purchase, acquisition and / or donation of medical supplies, which were put up for sale by people outside the hospital; the expertise of human identity and the report of recognition of the place of the events.
The judges of the Criminal Guarantees Court, Smirnova Calderón, Nebel Viera and Rocío Álvarez, partially accepted the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office and issued a conviction of eight years in prison against Abraham MV and seven years for Noé SB. Both must pay a fine of twenty unified basic salaries (8,000 dollars) and as comprehensive reparation they were ordered to return the seized medicine and offer the due public apology, through the media.
Noé S. B. and Abraham M. V. are detained in Huaquillas (El Oro) and Guayaquil (Guayas), respectively, for the alleged crime of embezzlement (another case).
While Víctor Ch. L. (deputy director of the medicine area) and Francisco SJ (warehouse assistant), former officials of the Guasmo Sur Hospital, were sentenced to 5 years in prison, and to the payment of a fine of twenty basic salaries (8,000 Dollars). As comprehensive reparation, they must return the delivered medications and offer public apologies to the public.
At the hearing, the magistrates confirmed the state of innocence of the defendant Erick P. D. (official), not finding his participation or criminal responsibility in the fact under investigation.
Context
After complaints from the public and news appeared on social networks and the media, the Prosecutor’s Office began an investigation in June 2020, against people who were engaged in the sale of medicines, for values and onerous amounts of money, during the health crisis lived in the city of Guayaquil, the months of March, April and May 2020.
The investigations focused on a criminal organization that would have engaged in the illicit sale of medical supplies with a surcharge, especially the drug called Actemra, which was marketed in this city and whose street value was between 400 and 1,200 dollars per vial. The medicine would have left the Guasmo Sur hospital, with the complicity of officials from the health center.
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