Ecuador court sentences former president Lenin Moreno to five years for Sinohydro bribery

Judicial verdict and prison sentences

An Ecuadorian court delivered its ruling on Friday, sentencing former president Lenin Moreno to five years in prison for corruption. The judicial panel found the 73-year-old former leader guilty of accepting bribes in connection with the procurement process for a national hydroelectric project. The five-year prison term handed down by the judges was lower than the six-year and six-month sentence sought by the public prosecutor's office. In addition to Moreno, the court convicted six other co-defendants, including a former Chinese ambassador to Quito and several business executives. Moreno's wife and daughter were among those found guilty of complicity in the scheme, receiving sentences of nearly three years of imprisonment. In total, prosecutors had brought formal charges against approximately 20 individuals, encompassing public officials, corporate leaders, and relatives of the former president.

The Sinohydro bribery ring

The case centers on an extensive bribery network that prosecutors say functioned from 2009 to 2018 during the planning and construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power plant. Chinese state-backed construction firm Sinohydro stood at the center of the prosecution's case, facing allegations of distributing approximately $76 million in illegal payments to secure the infrastructure contract. According to the state prosecutor, the illicit acts involving Moreno occurred primarily between 2007 and 2013, the period when he served as vice president of Ecuador. Investigators documented that the corrupt arrangements facilitated favorable public contracting terms for the Chinese engineering company across multiple administrative stages. The hydroelectric facility, designed as one of the country's primary energy generation assets, remained under investigation for years as financial and administrative irregularities surfaced.

Defense arguments and pending appeal

Moreno, who uses a wheelchair, rejected the court's verdict and repeated his claims of complete innocence. Addressing the court shortly before the sentencing decision was read, he confirmed that his legal defense team will file a formal appeal against the first-instance conviction. The former head of state insisted after the ruling that he did not receive a single cent from Sinohydro during his entire time in public office. Moreno maintained that the prosecution was manufactured as part of a campaign of political persecution directed against him. He attributed the legal proceedings directly to his political rivals, arguing that the charges were designed to discredit his administration rather than punish genuine financial misconduct.

Fracture with Rafael Correa and political aftermath

The ruling follows years of political conflict between Moreno and his predecessor, former socialist president Rafael Correa. Correa governed Ecuador from 2007 to 2017 and played an instrumental role in securing Moreno's election as his designated successor. Following his inauguration in 2017, Moreno broke with Correa's political movement, steering Ecuador's domestic policies toward the right and pursuing closer diplomatic alignment with the United States. This policy realignment produced an open conflict between the two leaders, leading to mutual accusations of corruption and institutional abuse. Correa moved to Belgium, the home country of his wife, after leaving the presidency in 2017. In 2020, an Ecuadorian court convicted Correa in absentia and sentenced him to eight years in prison for corruption, though Belgian authorities subsequently granted him political asylum, shielding him from extradition.