Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after a court found him guilty of accepting bribes from a Chinese company, Sinohydro, in exchange for helping it secure a contract to build a hydroelectric plant. Moreno, 73, who was present for the verdict, will serve his sentence under house arrest due to a physical disability.
Moreno was convicted as a direct participant in a bribery scheme that prosecutors say operated from 2008 to 2018. The scheme involved collecting bribes equivalent to 4% of the project's value, with the funds allegedly distributed through domestic and international transactions to public officials and other beneficiaries, including Moreno. His wife and daughter were convicted as accomplices and received 30-month sentences, and all were ordered to repay triple the illicit amount received within 90 days.
The case involved the roughly $2 billion Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, which Sinohydro began building in 2010 and handed over to Ecuador in 2016. The project has since faced criticism for structural defects.
Moreno's conviction marks him as the third former Ecuadorian president to be sentenced for corruption, though his crimes occurred before he held the presidency. Former President Rafael Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison for bribery in a separate case involving the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht but resides in Belgium. Former President Jamil Mahuad was sentenced in 2014 to eight years for misuse of public funds, and Abdalá Bucaram is awaiting sentencing after a conviction for organized crime.
Moreno rose to national prominence in 2007 as vice president under Correa, serving until 2013. He later won the presidency in 2017 as a candidate of the Correísta movement, with Jorge Glas, who succeeded him as vice president and is now serving a prison sentence for corruption, as his running mate.