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 in exchange for helping secure a contract to build a hydroelectric plant.
A Bribery Scheme Tied to the Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Plant
According to reporting from the Associated Press, prosecutors proved that a corruption network operated from 2008 to 2018. During this decade, the syndicate collected bribes amounting to 4% of the total value of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project. Sinohydro, the company handling the build, commenced construction on the roughly $2 billion infrastructure undertaking in 2010 before handing it over to Ecuador in 2016. Since its completion, the facility has faced criticism regarding structural defects.
Investigators detailed how the illicit funds moved through domestic and international transactions, routing money to public officials and other beneficiaries. This financial labyrinth directly implicated Moreno, who stood trial for crimes committed prior to assuming the presidency. The court determined that Moreno acted as a direct participant in the bribery scheme during his tenure as vice president under Rafael Correa.
Family Fallout and House Arrest Parameters
Judicial fallout from the verdict extends into Moreno’s immediate family. His wife, daughter, two brothers, and a brother-in-law were all convicted as accomplices in the enterprise. While Moreno received a five-year prison term, his wife and daughter were each handed 30-month sentences.
Moreno, now 73 years old, was present in the courtroom for the reading of the verdict. Because he lives with a physical disability that prevents him from walking, the court ruled that he will serve his five-year sentence under house arrest rather than inside a traditional correctional facility.
The case places Moreno into a club of modern Ecuadorian heads of state felled by graft investigations. He is now the third former Ecuadorian president to be sentenced for corruption, following a pattern of legal accountability that has upended domestic politics for over a decade. Former President Rafael Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison over a bribery case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht; Correa has spent years living in Belgium. Similarly, former President Jamil Mahuad received an eight-year sentence in 2014 for the misuse of public funds, while former President Abdalá Bucaram awaits sentencing following a conviction for organized crime.
Political Lineage and the Correísta Movement
Moreno rose to national prominence as a tourism entrepreneur in 2007, when he became vice president under Rafael Correa. He served in that role until 2013, when Jorge Glas succeeded him. In 2017, Moreno won the presidency as the candidate for the Correísta movement, selecting Glas as his running mate. Glas later left office and is currently serving a prison sentence for corruption.
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