Former Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno was yesterday jailed for five years and banned from holding public office in a case that ensnared China’s former ambassador and where bribes were taken from a Chinese company that has done business with Guyana
An Ecuadorean court found Moreno guilty in a bribery case tied to the construction of the Andean country’s largest hydroelectric plant, the public prosecutor’s office said.
Moreno, 73, was sentenced to five years in prison and has been permanently barred from holding any public office in the future, Reuters reported.
The attorney general’s office launched the investigation in March 2023, linking Moreno, family members and local and Chinese business partners, including China’s former ambassador to Ecuador, to an alleged corruption network tied to the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair plant. The plant which began operating in 2016 has experienced technical problems since.
“Lenin Moreno’s conduct is consistent with the charges brought by the prosecution: the crime of bribery attributed to a public official,” Judge Manuel Cabrera, head of the tribunal, said while delivering the ruling.
Reuters said that his wife and daughter, as well as his two brothers and sisters-in-law were also found guilty, and were sentenced to two years and six months in prison. China’s former ambassador to Quito, Cai Runguo, was also jailed for five years.
Prosecutors had requested sentences of more than six years for Moreno and 19 other defendants. According to the attorney general’s office, Sinohydro paid approximately US$76.1 million in bribes between 2009 and 2018 through fraudulent consulting contracts.
Reuters said that investigators alleged the funds were routed via overseas bank accounts and shell companies in tax havens to Moreno’s family and business associates. The prosecution said Moreno and his close relatives received more than US$1 million while he served as vice president from 2007 to 2013.
Moreno, 73, has consistently denied the allegations, maintaining he had no involvement in signing or overseeing the project’s contracts, Reuters said.
“A word of advice to the prosecutor: you’re looking in the wrong place. Look at those who signed the contracts, at those who had the habit of demanding kickbacks, you’re looking in the wrong place,” Moreno said at the hearing.
Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, returned to Ecuador from Paraguay to face the trial.
Sinohydro has had a number of links in Guyana and has been described as a state-owned hydropower, engineering, and construction firm.
Zijin Mining, had contracted the company for stripping works at its mine site in 2020. It has also undertaken construction work here and engaged in trucking among other things.
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