Ecuador’s former president Lenin Moreno has been sentenced 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 a corruption case involving the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, built by Chinese company Sinohydro.
Prosecutors said Sinohydro paid about $76m (£57m) in bribes, equivalent to around 4% of the project’s cost.
Moreno, 73, has denied receiving money from the company and said he would appeal the ruling.
“I have never received a single cent from Sinohydro,” he said after the verdict.
He blamed the case on what he called “the Correa regime”, accusing his former political ally and predecessor, Rafael Correa, of seeking revenge against him.
“[Correa] promised to take revenge on me,” Moreno said.
Moreno served as vice-president under Mr Correa during the period when the alleged corruption took place. He later succeeded him as president with Mr Correa’s backing.
However, the two men fell out after Moreno shifted to the right and developed closer ties with the United States.
Mr Correa, who has also been convicted of corruption, lives in Belgium and denies wrongdoing.
Moreno’s wife and other relatives were also sentenced to nearly three years in prison for complicity in the corruption scheme.
Prosecutors had sought a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Moreno.
The former president, who is paraplegic, previously served as the United Nations special envoy on disability and has remained politically active since leaving office.
Two former managers of the Coca Codo Sinclair power plant were also among those convicted.
