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Lenín Moreno, a former president of Ecuador, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of taking bribes. He served as president from 2017 to 2021 and has insisted that he did not receive money from a Chinese firm, Sinohydro, which secured a contract to build a hydroelectric plant in Ecuador. Moreno, who is 73 years old, will serve his sentence under house arrest due to his age and disability and has indicated his intention to appeal the verdict.
The court in Quito found Moreno and 19 others guilty of corruption. Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro paid a total of $76.1 million through shell companies to individuals involved in the deal for the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam. Among those sentenced were members of Moreno's family, including his wife, daughter, and brother.
While Moreno himself was said to have received very little from the scheme, prosecutors claimed that family members received tens of thousands of dollars. Those convicted of bribery will have to repay three times the amount they received, and Moreno has been barred from holding public office. He has denied involvement in the bribery scheme and blamed former president Rafael Correa, who previously served as his vice president and was sentenced to eight years in prison in a separate bribery case.