Ecuador sentences former president Lenín Moreno to five years in a China dam bribery case

An Ecuadorian court found former president Lenín Moreno guilty of bribery in the Coca Codo Sinclair case.

The court sentenced Moreno to five years in prison.

The verdict was read on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.

Moreno was permanently barred from holding public office.

Moreno will serve the sentence under house arrest because of his age and disability.

Judge Manuel Cabrera said Moreno’s conduct matched the bribery charge against a public official.

The court found Moreno and about 19 other defendants guilty.

Moreno’s wife, daughter and other relatives were also convicted.

Relatives were sentenced to about two and a half years in prison.

China’s former ambassador to Quito, Cai Runguo, received a five-year sentence.

Former Coca Codo Sinclair plant managers were also convicted.

Prosecutors had sought about six and a half years in prison for Moreno.

Those convicted of bribery must repay three times what they received.

Prosecutors said Chinese state firm Sinohydro paid about $76.1 million in bribes between 2009 and 2018.

Prosecutors said the bribes were about 4 percent of the hydroelectric contract’s value.

The bribes were paid through fraudulent consulting contracts.

Investigators said the money moved through overseas accounts and shell companies in tax havens.

Prosecutors alleged Moreno himself received very little from the scheme.

Prosecutors said family members received tens of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors said Moreno and close relatives received more than $1 million while he was vice president.

Moreno was vice president under Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2013, when prosecutors say the scheme ran.

Moreno was president of Ecuador from 2017 to 2021.

Coca Codo Sinclair is Ecuador’s largest hydroelectric plant and was built by China’s Sinohydro.

Sinohydro is a Chinese state-owned company.

Moreno returned to Ecuador from Paraguay to face trial.

Moreno denied taking bribes or having a role in the project’s contracts.

Moreno said he never received a single cent from Sinohydro.

Moreno said he will appeal the verdict.

Moreno blamed former president Rafael Correa for the case.

Moreno said Correa had promised to take revenge on him.

Moreno argued that Correa had signed off on the Coca Codo Sinclair project.

Moreno is the third former Ecuadorian president sentenced for corruption.

Rafael Correa was sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison in a separate bribery case.

Correa lives in Belgium.

Ecuador sued Sinohydro in 2021 over cracks and other technical failures in the dam.

Ecuador reached a $400 million settlement with Sinohydro’s owner earlier this year.

Moreno is 73.

After taking office, Moreno broke politically with Correa and backed investigations of former Correísta officials.

Moreno later shifted toward the right and closer alignment with the United States.