Lenin Moreno sentenced to five years for corruption

An Ecuadorian court sentenced former president Lenin Moreno to five years in prison in a corruption case linked to the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Moreno, who governed Ecuador from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 people convicted over the construction of the dam by China's Sinohydro. They said Sinohydro paid bribes totaling $76 million, about four percent of the project's cost.

Moreno was vice-president under Rafael Correa during the period of the alleged corruption, between 2007 and 2013. Prosecutors had sought a six-and-a-half-year prison term for him.

Moreno said after the ruling that he had never received "a single cent" from Sinohydro and blamed the case on what he called "the Correa regime." He said he plans to appeal.

The ruling also sentenced Moreno's wife and other relatives to nearly three years in prison for complicity. Two former managers of the power plant were also among those convicted.