After being caught with fake US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) IDs and loaded with about $100,000 USD in cash, Oren Sheinman was imprisoned in a Guayaquil jail in early June along with his Israeli business partner, Shy Dahan (AKA Tomer Sheinman, among other aliases). Authorities claim they were involved in an illegal scheme in Ecuador, trading medical supplies for "private enrichment" during the pandemic.
The two men later conceded that they had posed as US anti-drug agents, and claimed they had sold COVID-19 PPE to Jacobo Bucaram Pulley, the eldest son of former Ecuador President Abdalá Bucaram, who is now a fugitive.
While in prison, both men were attacked on 8 August. Shy Dahan was beaten to death during the assault, and the Australian-Israeli was wounded.
Highlights:
- The murder of Shy Dahan and the attempted murder of Oren Sheinman in a Guayaquil prison is allegedly linked to a corruption scandal involving former Ecuadorian President Abdala Bucaram and his children, over the sale of medical supplies in the midst of a pandemic.
- Bucaram declared himself a presidential candidate, which gives him immunity.
- Australian-Israeli Oren Sheinman entered the victim and witness system of the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office.
Following the attack, Sheinman was transferred to a hospital in Guayaquil and is currently receiving consular assistance, a spokesman for the Australian Foreign Ministry told SBS Spanish.
He is currently under the victim and witness program of the Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office.
"He is out of danger, recovering from the assassination attempt and the murder of his cellmate inside a prison that is under the protection of the Ecuadorian State," the Australian-Israeli's lawyer, Héctor Gabriel Vanegas, told SBS Spanish.
According to Sheinman's statement to the Prosecutor, on the day of the attack, he woke up with the feeling that he had 'many things' on his face: “They were strangling me, I thought I was going to die and I was sure that would happen. There was nothing I could do. I decided to sit down, move, there were many people in the cell ... I felt other blows, on the front and back of my head, I lost consciousness and fell.”
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Intento de asesinato de australiano en Ecuador destapa Caja de Pandora en caso de corrupción contra Bucaram
The Australian-Israeli said he saw Dahan's lifeless body lying on the floor of a staircase, upon regaining consciousness.
According to Ecuadorian newspaper , Sheinman was assaulted by prison guards even after surviving the first the attack.
“[Dahan] had a weight on his face, I tried to move him, but he didn't move, I tried to crawl out to ask for help ... A guard came and kicked me. I had blood and water on my face. And he kept kicking me,” Sheinman reportedly said.
Spooky tale
Authorities in Ecuador link the attack on Dahan and Sheinman to a corruption scheme involving prison authorities and agents of the Metropolitan Transit Agency (AMT), who allegedly provided the false documents to the two men.
The duo were presumably involved in a corruption scheme related to the sale of overly priced medical supplies to public hospitals during the pandemic. The scandal also involves former President Bucaram and his sons, Jacobo, Michel and Abdalá, the latter a former MP and former presidential candidate, currently in the United States.
The lawyer for the Australian-Israeli told SBS Spanish that his client "has provided primary information to the Prosecutor's Office and the names of those specifically responsible", although he did not give further details.
Mr Vanegas described his client's account as "chilling". Sheinman claims many people share culpability in the attack, including "prison guards, assistants and the prison officials who should have ensured their safety". The lawyer stressed they cannot "point with the finger at anyone” as yet, although he hopes that those responsible are punished.
Ecuadorian media have published confidential documents and audios from Dahan, some provided by Mr Vanegas, which seem to indicate that he had received death threats.
The Ecuadorian daily Primicias published on August 12 that Sheinman accused the Director of the Guayaquil Penitentiary, Héctor Reina Vivar, before the country's prosecutor, of participating in a plot with the Bucaram family.
“Reina, the prison director, said he had a contract over our heads. That the Bucarams, Abdalá and his son Jacobo want our heads ”, the paper claimed, citing statements given by Sheinman in English, who alleges the former Ecuadorian president's eldest son threatened them constantly.
The Ecuadorian newspaper added that Sheinman stated that “on August 6 and 7, 2020, there were several calls and messages from Jacobo Bucaram and Abdalá Bucaram. They said that if we speak and show evidence they will kill us, as well as our family; it doesn't matter that they live in another world."
The former Ecuadorian president under house arrest
Former Ecuadorian President Abdalá Bucaram, 68, has been under house arrest since last Thursday after the murder of the Israeli, for the sale of medical supplies.
The former president allegedly offered help the murdered Israeli to get him out of prison, taking advantage of his influence in the judicial system.
In a leaked audio of a telephone conversation between former President Bucaram, his lawyer and Shy Dahan, Bucaram's voice is heard as he offers his help to the then detainee, telling him that he will "handle the court" to save him from the case.
The former president claims the leaked audio was part of a technical defence on his part, and that he was trying to gain Shy Dahan's trust.
At the time of his arrest, the former president was already under home surveillance, with an electronic shackle, as a result of other corruption investigations. He and his sons are suspected of trafficking of weapons and antiquities, which were found in a raid on his home in June, where medical supplies were also found.
Since the investigations involving the Bucaram family began, the ex-president declared himself a presidential candidate for the February elections.
Sheinman's lawyer stresses that as a presidential candidate, Bucaram enjoys immunity.
Bucaram and the others involved in the corruption scandal face charges of "unjustified private enrichment, fraud, fraudulent use of a public document, tax evasion ... crimes against life," the public prosecutor said.
The former president was removed from office in February 1997 after just six months. The Parliament declared him 'mentally unfit' amid widespread protests against his government, despite having no medical justification to back its ruling.
Bucaram left Ecuador and spent two decades in exile in Panama.
Shy Dahan also lived in Panama, where he owned various businesses and faced charges of fraud.
He fled the Central American nation and escaped to Spain, but he was later extradited back to Panama. Dahan then fled a Panama prison in 2018.
He was also wanted in Canada and the US for embezzlement and fraud, and faced court in London, according to various news reports.
