A court in Quito sentenced former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno to five years in prison for taking bribes from a Chinese state-owned firm, making him the third former leader of the country convicted of corruption.
Moreno, 73, was found guilty alongside 19 others in a scheme tied to the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam, one of Ecuador's largest infrastructure projects. Prosecutors said the Chinese firm Sinohydro funneled $76.1 million through shell companies to individuals involved in the deal in exchange for securing the construction contract. Moreno's wife, daughter, and brother were also convicted as accomplices.
Because of his age and a physical disability, Moreno will serve his sentence under house arrest rather than behind bars. The court also barred him from holding public office and ordered everyone convicted of bribery to repay three times the amount they received.
Moreno has denied taking money from Sinohydro and said he plans to appeal.
The bribery operation ran from 2008 to 2018, AP News reported, covering the period when Moreno served as vice president and later as president. The bribes amounted to roughly four percent of the value of the approximately $2 billion hydroelectric project, a staggering cut skimmed off a single public works contract.
Prosecutors alleged that Moreno personally received "very little" from the scheme, though they did not specify an exact dollar figure. His family members were said to have received "tens of thousands of dollars." The bulk of the $76.1 million flowed to others involved in the deal, including former plant managers and Sinohydro representatives, several of whom also received prison sentences.
A Chinese ambassador to Ecuador was among those convicted. The BBC reported that it had approached both Sinohydro and the Chinese embassy in Ecuador for comment but did not indicate receiving a response from either.
The conviction adds Ecuador to the growing list of countries where courts have moved to hold powerful political figures accountable for conduct in office, a pattern that plays out unevenly across the globe, depending on whether the political will exists to follow through.
In his defense, Moreno blamed former President Rafael Correa, under whom he served as vice president. Moreno argued that Correa had signed off on the Coca Codo Sinclair project and bore responsibility for the deal. He also claimed he had launched an investigation into problems with the dam's construction after assuming the presidency in 2017.
That defense did not persuade the court. And Moreno's attempt to shift blame lands differently when set against Correa's own record: Correa was sentenced to eight years in prison in a separate bribery case in 2020. Two consecutive Ecuadorian presidents, one the protégé of the other, both convicted of corruption. The pattern speaks for itself.
The dam itself became a liability well beyond the courtroom. Cracks and other technical failures in the Coca Codo Sinclair facility prompted the Ecuadorian government to launch legal proceedings against Sinohydro in 2021. Earlier this year, Ecuador reached a $400 million settlement with Sinohydro's owner, a figure that underscores the scale of the damage left behind by the project.
Moreno is now the third former Ecuadorian president sentenced for corruption. The country's record of prosecuting its own leaders stands in sharp contrast to political cultures where powerful officeholders face little accountability even when evidence of wrongdoing piles up. In the United States, questions about whether elected officials face real consequences for misconduct remain a live debate, as ongoing federal investigations into prominent political figures continue to test the system.
Ecuador's willingness to convict its own former heads of state is notable, but the sentence itself raises fair questions. Five years under house arrest for a man found guilty of participating in a multimillion-dollar bribery ring tied to a dam that physically cracked apart is not exactly a crushing penalty. Moreno will sleep in his own home. The taxpayers who funded the project, and the communities that depend on a dam now known to be structurally compromised, got a worse deal.
The involvement of a Chinese state-owned enterprise adds another dimension. Beijing-linked firms have faced corruption allegations tied to infrastructure projects across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The Coca Codo Sinclair case fits a familiar template: a massive public works project, a state-backed Chinese contractor, shell companies, and local officials who enriched themselves while the finished product fell apart. When foreign powers gain influence through deals built on bribery, it is ordinary citizens who pay, in broken infrastructure, in lost public funds, and in diminished trust in their own government. That dynamic is not unique to Ecuador; it is a warning to any country willing to look the other way when the money arrives.
Accountability for criminal conduct by public figures should not depend on geography or political convenience. When courts follow the evidence and impose real consequences, it sends a signal, however imperfect, that no one is above the law.
Moreno says he will appeal. But the facts the court laid out, $76.1 million in bribes, shell companies, a crumbling dam, and a former president's family on the take, do not leave much room for sympathy. Ecuador held its leader to account. The question, as always, is whether the penalty matches the betrayal.
