Ecuador Ex-President Moreno Sentenced To Five Years For Bribery

An Ecuadoran court has sentenced a former President Lenin Moreno to five years in prison for accepting bribes linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric dam by Chinese company Sinohydro.

Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 people convicted in the corruption case involving the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro paid about $76 million in bribes, equivalent to roughly four per cent of the cost of the project.

Moreno, 73, served as vice-president under former socialist President Rafael Correa between 2007 and 2013, when the alleged corruption took place.

He later succeeded Correa as president with his former mentor’s backing but fell out with him after shifting politically to the right and developing closer ties with the United States.

Following Friday’s ruling, Moreno announced that he would appeal the sentence. His wife and other relatives were also convicted of complicity and sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

Prosecutors had requested a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the former president.

Moreno, who is paraplegic and previously served as the United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility, denied receiving any money from Sinohydro.

“I have never received a single cent from Sinohydro,” Moreno said after the verdict, blaming the case on what he described as “the Correa regime.”

He accused Correa, who has also been convicted of corruption and currently lives in Belgium, of seeking revenge against him.

“He promised to take revenge on me,” Moreno said.

Two former managers of the Coca Codo Sinclair power plant were among those convicted alongside Moreno.

The Coca Codo Sinclair project, built by Sinohydro, is Ecuador’s biggest hydroelectric facility and a major source of the country’s electricity.