Ecuador has found former President Moreno guilty in a bribery case involving a hydroelectric plant
An Ecuadorean court found former President Lenin Moreno guilty on Friday in a bribery case related to the construction of the Andean country’s largest hydroelectric plant, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Moreno, 73, received a five-year prison sentence and has been permanently prohibited from holding any public office in the future.
The attorney general’s office initiated the investigation in March 2023, connecting Moreno, his family members, and local and Chinese business partners, including China’s former ambassador to Quito, to an alleged corruption network associated with the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair plant, which began operations in 2016 and has faced technical difficulties since then. “Lenin Moreno’s actions align with the charges presented by the prosecution: the crime of bribery attributed to a public official,” Judge Manuel Cabrera, head of the tribunal, stated while announcing the ruling.
His wife and daughter, along with his two brothers and sisters-in-law, were also found guilty and received sentences of two years and six months in prison. China’s former ambassador to Quito, Cai Runguo, received a sentence of five years in prison.
Prosecutors sought sentences exceeding six years for Moreno and 19 other defendants. As reported by the attorney general’s office, Sinohydro allegedly paid around $76.1 million in bribes from 2009 to 2018 via deceptive consulting contracts.
Investigators claimed that the funds were channeled through overseas bank accounts and shell companies located in tax havens to benefit Moreno’s family and business associates. The prosecution stated that Moreno and his immediate family received over $1 million during his tenure as vice president from 2007 to 2013.
Moreno, 73, has persistently refuted the allegations, asserting that he had no role in signing or supervising the project’s contracts. “A word of advice to the prosecutor: you’re looking in the wrong place. “Examine those who signed the contracts, those who routinely demanded kickbacks; you’re focusing your attention in the wrong area,” Moreno stated during the hearing.
Moreno, who held the presidency from 2017 to 2021, has returned to Ecuador from Paraguay to confront the trial.
