Lenin Moreno convicted in Ecuador dam corruption case

An Ecuadorian court has convicted former president Lenin Moreno in a corruption case involving the Coca Codo Sinclair dam, the country's biggest hydroelectric project.

Ecuador's Attorney General's office said Moreno, who governed from 2017 to 2021, was among four people convicted in the case linked to the dam's construction by Chinese company Sinohydro. Moreno was vice-president under Rafael Correa during the period of the alleged corruption, between 2007 and 2013.

The court in Quito has not yet sentenced Moreno. He remains free pending sentencing, and prosecutors have asked for a six-and-a-half-year prison term.

Prosecutors say Sinohydro paid bribes totaling $76 million, about four percent of the project's cost.

Moreno, 73, denied after the ruling that he had received "a single cent" from Sinohydro. He blamed the case on "the Correa regime" and said Correa, his former ally and later rival, had promised revenge.

Three other Ecuadorian nationals were convicted alongside Moreno, including two former managers of the power plant. Around 20 people have been implicated in the case in total, including Moreno's wife, his daughter, businesspeople and a former Chinese ambassador to Quito.