Ecuadorian Court Sentences Former President Lenín Moreno to Five Years for Sinohydro Bribery

Five-year sentence under house arrest

The Ecuadorian judiciary on Friday, 28 August 2026, sentenced former President Lenín Moreno to five years in prison for corruption. Moreno, who governed Ecuador from 2017 to 2021, will serve his sentence under house arrest. The 73-year-old former head of state uses a wheelchair, which underpins the house arrest arrangement. The national prosecutor's office announced the verdict on the social media platform X following the conclusion of proceedings in the first-instance court.

Six other defendants were convicted alongside Moreno and handed identical five-year prison terms. Among those sentenced is a former Chinese ambassador to Quito. In total, approximately 20 individuals were implicated in the wider case, including business executives and members of Moreno's immediate family. The court sentenced Moreno's wife and other relatives to nearly three years in prison for complicity in the scheme. Prosecutors had initially sought a prison term of six years and six months for the former president before the court delivered its five-year ruling.

Hydroelectric project bribery scheme

The conviction centres on illicit payments linked to the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant. Investigators established that Chinese construction enterprise Sinohydro paid a total of 76 million dollars in bribes to secure the infrastructure contract. According to prosecutors, the corruption network operated systematically between 2009 and 2018.

During a substantial part of that timeframe, Moreno served as vice president under left-wing President Rafael Correa, holding office from 2007 to 2013. The prosecution argued that Moreno actively participated in facilitating the contract award in exchange for illicit financial transfers channeled through intermediaries and family connections during the dam's procurement and development phases.

Moreno plans appeal against verdict

Shortly before the sentencing announcement, Moreno declared his intention to appeal the first-instance ruling. The former president rejected all charges, asserting that he had "not received a single cent from Sinohydro" during his tenure in office. He characterized the judicial proceedings as a politically motivated campaign directed against him.

Moreno attributed the prosecution to political persecution orchestrated by his former ally and mentor, Rafael Correa. The legal team representing the former president confirmed plans to challenge the conviction in higher judicial instances, disputing both the evidence presented by the prosecution and the liability attributed to his family members.

Severed ties with Rafael Correa

The ruling adds another chapter to the extended rift between Moreno and Rafael Correa, who led Ecuador between 2007 and 2017. Correa originally supported Moreno as his chosen political successor, aiding his successful 2017 presidential bid. Once in office, however, Moreno shifted Ecuador's foreign and domestic policy toward the political right, pursuing closer diplomatic relations with the United States and breaking publicly with Correa's movement.

Correa has resided in Belgium since leaving the presidency in 2017. Ecuadorian courts tried the former socialist president in absentia, sentencing him in 2020 to eight years in prison in a separate corruption case. With both former leaders now convicted of graft, Ecuador's political landscape remains marked by the legal fallout from infrastructure projects executed over the past two decades.