Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno Sentenced for Corruption

Lenín Moreno, the former president of Ecuador, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes. He has stated that he did not take money from a Chinese firm that secured a contract to build a hydroelectric plant in Ecuador. The 73-year-old will serve his sentence under house arrest due to his age and disability and has indicated his intention to appeal the ruling made by a court in Quito, which found him and 19 others guilty of corruption. Moreno served as president from 2017 to 2021 and is the third former Ecuadorian leader to face sentencing for corruption. Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro, a state-owned Chinese company, paid a total of $76.1 million through shell companies to individuals involved in securing the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam. Among those sentenced were Moreno's wife, daughter, and brother, along with former plant managers, Sinohydro representatives, and a Chinese ambassador to Ecuador. While prosecutors claimed Moreno received little from the scheme, they stated that his family members received tens of thousands of dollars. Those convicted of bribery are required 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 has blamed former president Rafael Correa, who was sentenced to eight years in prison in a separate bribery case in 2020. Moreno argued that Correa had approved the Coca Codo Sinclair project and that he initiated an investigation into construction issues upon taking office. The Ecuadorian government initiated legal proceedings against Sinohydro in 2021 due to cracks and other technical failures in the dam, reaching a $400 million settlement with the firm's owner earlier this year. The BBC has sought comments from Sinohydro and the Chinese embassy in Ecuador.