Ex-President Gets Five-Year Jail Term Over Bribery Linked to Major Dam Project
Ecuador’s former President Lenín Moreno has been sentenced to five years in prison after a court found him guilty of corruption connected to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric power project.
Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 people convicted in the case involving the Coca Codo Sinclair dam, which was built by Chinese company Sinohydro. Prosecutors alleged that about $76 million in bribes, equivalent to roughly four per cent of the project’s cost, was paid in connection with the construction.
The former president was vice-president under Rafael Correa when the alleged corruption took place between 2007 and 2013. Moreno later succeeded Correa as president but became a political opponent of his former ally after moving away from Correa’s left-wing administration. He has denied receiving money from Sinohydro and plans to appeal the conviction.
Moreno’s wife and other relatives were also convicted and sentenced to nearly three years for their alleged involvement in the case. Prosecutors had requested a six-and-a-half-year sentence for Moreno, whose conviction adds to a series of corruption cases involving senior political figures in Ecuador.
