Ex-Ecuador President Lenín Moreno gets five years in Sinohydro bribery case

Quito,UPDATED: Aug 29, 2026 08:18 IST

Former Ecuadorian President Lenn Moreno was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday after a court found him guilty of accepting bribes from a Chinese company in return for helping it secure a contract to build a hydroelectric plant. Moreno, 73, was present when the verdict was read and will serve the sentence under house arrest because of a physical disability that prevents him from walking.

The court found that Moreno took part directly in the bribery scheme during his time as vice president under Rafael Correa. His wife, daughter, two brothers and a brother-in-law were also convicted as accomplices, with his wife and daughter each receiving 30-month prison sentences.

Moreno is the third former president of Ecuador to be sentenced for corruption, although the case against him relates to the period before he became president. Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison in a bribery case involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, but he remains in Belgium, where he has lived for years.

Former President Jamil Mahuad was sentenced in 2014 to eight years in prison for misuse of public funds. Another former president, Abdal Bucaram, is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of organised crime.

Prosecutors said a corruption network operated from 2008 to 2018 and collected bribes worth 4 per cent 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 USD 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.

A tourism entrepreneur, Moreno 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 Corresta movement founded around Correa, with Glas as his running mate. Glas later left office and is now serving a prison sentence for corruption.

The verdict adds Moreno to the list of former Ecuadorian presidents convicted in corruption cases, with prosecutors saying the bribery network linked to the hydroelectric project ran for a decade and channelled money to public officials and other beneficiaries.

With PTI Inputs

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