Ecuador sentences former President Moreno to five years in jail in bribery case

Former Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has been found guilty of bribery in a corruption case linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric plant, the public prosecutor’s office said on Friday, August 28. Moreno, 73, was sentenced to five years in prison and permanently barred from holding public office.

The attorney general’s office launched an investigation in March 2023, alleging that Moreno, members of his family and local and Chinese business partners were involved in a corruption network connected to the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant. The facility began operating in 2016 but has experienced technical problems since.

“Lenin Moreno’s conduct is consistent with the charges brought by the prosecution: the crime of bribery attributed to a public official,” said Judge Manuel Cabrera, head of the tribunal, while delivering the ruling.

The attorney general’s office said Chinese state-owned firm Sinohydro paid roughly $76.1 million in bribes between 2009 and 2018 through fraudulent consulting contracts. Moreno’s wife and daughter, as well as his two brothers and their wives, were also convicted and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Cai Runguo, China’s former ambassador to Quito, received a five-year sentence.

Investigators alleged that the funds were moved through overseas accounts and shell companies in tax havens before reaching Moreno’s family and associates. Prosecutors said Moreno and close relatives received more than $1 million while he was serving as vice president from 2007 to 2013.

Moreno has consistently denied the allegations, insisting that he had no role in signing or overseeing the project’s contracts. “You’re looking in the wrong place. Look at those who signed the contracts, at those who had the habit of demanding kickbacks,” Moreno told the court during the hearing. Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, returned to Ecuador from Paraguay to face trial.