Lenín Moreno sentenced to five years in prison in Ecuador over Chinese dam bribes
Ecuador's National Court of Justice sentenced former president Lenín Moreno to five years of house arrest after convicting him of taking bribes linked to a Chinese-built hydroelectric plant.
Conviction and sentencing
Ecuador's National Court of Justice sentenced former president Lenín Moreno to five years in prison on Friday after convicting him of bribery in connection with the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant. The court also barred the 73-year-old former leader permanently from holding public office and ordered him to pay 58,026 dollars in reparations. Because Moreno uses a wheelchair and has a mobility disability, he will serve his five-year sentence under house arrest. Alongside Moreno, businessman Conto Patiño Martínez and former Chinese ambassador Cai Runguo each received five-year prison sentences. The court handed down two-and-a-half-year prison terms to Moreno's wife Rocío González, his daughter Irina, and two brothers for acting as accomplices. Former project managers Luciano Cepeda and Henry Galarza were sentenced to three years in prison.
- Lenín Moreno
- 5 years
- Conto Patiño
- 5 years
- Cai Runguo
- 5 years
- Luciano Cepeda
- 3 years
- Rocío González
- 2.5 years
The Sinohydro bribery network
Prosecutors established that Chinese state-owned engineering firm Sinohydro distributed 76.1 million dollars in illicit payments to secure the contract for the 1,500-megawatt plant. The bribes represented approximately 4% of the roughly 2 billion dollar project, which received financing from the Export-Import Bank of China. According to court findings, the illicit funds moved through offshore companies based in Panama controlled by Patiño before reaching public officials and private beneficiaries. The court determined that Moreno used his position as vice president between 2007 and 2013 to intervene outside his formal jurisdiction to facilitate the deal. Between 2010 and 2018, Moreno's family network received more than 1.11 million dollars in payments and financial benefits stemming from the bribery network.
- Lenín Moreno assumes office as vice president under Rafael Correa
- Sinohydro begins construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant
- The 1,500-megawatt hydroelectric plant begins operations
- Moreno is elected president of Ecuador
- The National Court of Justice sentences Moreno to five years for bribery
Political fallout and Moreno's response
Moreno attended the verdict reading in Quito and immediately announced that he would appeal the first-instance ruling. After the decision was read, the former president rejected all charges and maintained that he never accepted illicit money from the Chinese contractor.
I have not received a single cent from Sinohydro.
Moreno stated that the criminal trial was fabricated by former president Rafael Correa, accusing his former ally of seeking political revenge. Moreno served as Correa's vice president from 2007 to 2013 and won the presidency with Correa's backing in 2017, but subsequently broke away from the leftist movement, moved closer to the United States, and opened investigations into prior infrastructure projects.
Project controversies and presidential trials
Sinohydro began constructing the Coca Codo Sinclair dam in 2010, and the facility entered operation in late 2016 before its formal handover in April 2026. The plant has faced severe operational and structural problems, including over 17,000 cracks in its infrastructure and threats from regressive soil erosion along the Coca River. Moreno is the third former Ecuadorian head of state to receive a prison sentence for corruption offences. Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in 2020 over the Odebrecht bribery investigation and currently resides in Belgium. Former president Jamil Mahuad was sentenced to eight years in 2014 for embezzlement of public funds, while Abdalá Bucaram awaits sentencing in an organized crime case.
