Former Ecuadorian President Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Corruption

Former Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has been sentenced to five years in prison by a court in connection with a corruption case. Moreno was found guilty of accepting bribes from a Chinese company that built Ecuador’s largest hydroelectric power plant.

Moreno, who served as President of Ecuador from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 defendants found guilty in the case involving the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair dam by a Chinese company named Sinohydro. The corruption took place between 2007 and 2013, when Moreno was serving as Vice President under socialist President Rafael Correa.

He succeeded Correa with the latter’s support, but later fell out with his mentor after shifting to the right and forging closer ties with the United States.

Moreno has announced plans to appeal the court’s ruling. Ecuadorian prosecutors had previously sought a sentence of 6.5 years for Moreno. In the same case, Moreno’s wife and other relatives were sentenced to nearly three years in prison for their involvement.

After the verdict was handed down on Friday, Moreno insisted he had never received ‘a single penny’ from Sinohydro. He linked the case to the ‘Correa regime’, claiming that his former backer, now his rival, had ‘promised to take revenge on me’. Correa has also been convicted of corruption, but he resides in Belgium.

Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro paid bribes totalling US$76 million, approximately four per cent of the hydroelectric project’s cost. Among those convicted alongside Moreno in the case were two former managers of the hydroelectric plant operator.

Moreno, now 73 years old and suffering from paraplegia, previously served as a United Nations special envoy for disability issues.