Ecuador court sentences former president Lenin Moreno to five years for bribery

​Quito, Ecuador, August 28, 2026 — An Ecuadoran court has sentenced former president Lenin Moreno to five years in prison for accepting bribes linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric dam.

Moreno, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, was among 20 people convicted in the corruption case involving the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, according to Ecuador’s prosecution service.

The case concerns the construction of the dam by Chinese company Sinohydro. Prosecutors alleged that Sinohydro paid a total of $76 million in bribes, equivalent to about four percent of the project’s cost.

Moreno was vice-president under former President Rafael Correa between 2007 and 2013, the period in which the alleged corruption took place. He later succeeded Correa as president with his former political mentor’s support, but the two eventually became rivals after Moreno shifted toward the political right and strengthened ties with the United States.

Moreno has said he will appeal the ruling. His wife and other relatives were also sentenced to nearly three years in prison for their alleged complicity in the case.

Prosecutors had sought a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Moreno.

The 73-year-old former president, who is paraplegic and previously served as the United Nations special envoy on disability and accessibility, denied receiving money from Sinohydro. Following Friday’s verdict, he said he had not received “a single cent” from the Chinese company.

Moreno attributed the case to what he called the “Correa regime” and accused Correa of seeking revenge against him. Correa, who has also been convicted of corruption, currently lives in Belgium.

Two former managers of the hydroelectric plant were also among those convicted in the case.

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