Lenín Moreno found guilty of bribery, prosecutors seek 6 years and 6 months in prison

A court in Ecuador has found former President Lenín Moreno guilty of accepting bribes from a Chinese construction group in exchange for securing a public contract for the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant.

According to a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office, four people have been found guilty in connection with the corruption case. The court has not yet determined Moreno’s final sentence, while prosecutors have requested 6 years and 6 months in prison for the former head of state.

Prosecutors allege that Moreno was part of a corruption scheme that operated between 2009 and 2018. The investigation concerns the contract for the construction of the large Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, which was built by the Chinese company Sinohydro.

In this case, Sinohydro is accused of paying approximately $76 million in bribes.

Moreno is 73 years old and uses a wheelchair. He has repeatedly denied the allegations and, after the verdict was announced, said that he had not received “a single cent from Sinohydro.” The former president described the proceedings against him as part of a political persecution organized by Rafael Correa.

About two dozen other people have been investigated in connection with the same case, including Moreno’s wife and daughter, company executives, and a former Chinese ambassador to Quito.

Before taking over the leadership of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno served as Rafael Correa’s vice president. He later succeeded him as president, governing the country from 2017 to 2021.

Although he was initially seen as Correa’s political heir, Moreno later broke with his former mentor and moved Ecuador’s political orientation closer to the United States.

Rafael Correa, who led Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, currently lives in Belgium. In 2020, he was sentenced in absentia to 8 years in prison for corruption, while Belgian authorities have recognized his political asylum.