Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno sentenced to 5 years for corruption

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno was sentenced Friday to 5 years in prison after a court found him guilty of accepting bribes from a Chinese company in exchange for helping it secure a contract to build a hydroelectric plant.

Moreno, who was present for the reading of the verdict, is 73 years old and has a physical disability that prevents him from walking. He will serve the sentence under house arrest.

Moreno was convicted as a direct participant in the bribery scheme during his tenure as vice president under Rafael Correa. His wife and daughter, two brothers and a brother-in-law were convicted as accomplices. The wife and daughter each received 30-month sentences.

Moreno is the third former Ecuadorian president to be sentenced for corruption, though he was tried for crimes before reaching the presidency.

Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison in a bribery case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht but remains in Belgium, where he has lived for years. Former President Jamil Mahuad was also sentenced in 2014 to eight years for misuse of public funds. Another former president, Abdalá Bucaram, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of organized crime.

Prosecutors said a corruption network operated from 2008 to 2018, collecting bribes equal to 4% of the value of the project carried out by Sinohydro. They said the money was distributed through domestic and international transactions to public officials and other beneficiaries, including Moreno.

Sinohydro began building the roughly $2 billion Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant in 2010 and handed it over to Ecuador in 2016. The project has since faced criticism over structural defects.

Moreno, a tourism entrepreneur, rose to national prominence in 2007 when he became vice president under Correa, who governed Ecuador for a decade. Moreno served until 2013, when Jorge Glas succeeded him.

In 2017, Moreno won the presidency as a candidate of the Correísta movement founded around Correa, with Glas as his running mate. Glas later left office and is now serving a prison sentence for corruption. ___

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Gonzalo Solano, The Associated Press