Ecuador court sentenced former President to jail for embezzlement

Jamil Mahuad, the former President of Ecuador was sentenced for 12 years in jail for embezzlement by a court of Ecuador. The court rule for the exiled ex-President come two-days after Interpol issued an international warrant for his arrest.

Jamil Mahuad fled to the United States in 2000 after a military coup. But the US has no extradition treaty with Ecuador.

Mahuad was accused of ordering banks to close for several days and freezing the accounts of ordinary citizens to protect the interests of bankers associated with him. After which he had been in office for less than a year.

The order was passed in March 1999, the time when Ecuador was going through a serious economic crisis. At that time, the country was struggling with high inflation, devalued currency and historically low prices of oil, its main export.

Judge Ximena Vintimilla in her ruling termed that he crime committee by the accused caused huge social turmoil and its consequences are still being felt by the Ecuadorean society of the day.

Jamil Mahuad was elected as the President in 1998, the time when Ecuador was on the brink of a new war with Peru due to a brief border conflict at Tiwintza in 1995. After his election, the country signed a peace treaty with Peru.