Ecuador charges former president Lenín Moreno over Chinese bribery case
Photo: Casa de América.
The Sinohydro case, named after the Chinese construction firm behind Ecuador’s largest hydroelectric plant, has escalated with formal charges against former president Lenín Moreno (2017–2021). Attorney General Wilson Toainga alleges that roughly USD 76 million in bribes were paid to secure the Coca Codo Sinclair contract, a flagship project completed in 2016 with Chinese financing.
Located in Ecuador’s Amazon region, Coca Codo Sinclair was intended as a symbol of Sino-Ecuadorian cooperation and a key source of electricity. However, the plant has since been plagued by over 7,000 cracks in its turbines and major structural flaws, raising questions about quality and the heavy debt burden Ecuador incurred with Chinese loans.
Prosecutors claim that Moreno and his close circle personally benefited: he and his wife allegedly received USD 547,000, his daughter USD 52,000, two of his brothers around USD 400,000, and a sister-in-law USD 15,000. Ecuadorian businessman Conto Patiño, a close associate of Moreno, reportedly received the largest share as an intermediary.
The investigation relied on international cooperation with Panama, Belize, Switzerland, the U.S., China, and Spain, which provided assistance in tracking money flows and bank accounts. Based on this evidence, prosecutors indicted Moreno and 22 others for bribery, a crime punishable by three to ten years in prison under Ecuadorian law.
Moreno, who has lived in Paraguay since 2022 while serving as the OAS Special Commissioner for Disability, has denied the charges, calling them politically motivated. A judge must now decide whether the case proceeds to trial.
Beyond its legal scope, the Sinohydro case could reshape Ecuador’s domestic debate over corruption in large-scale projects financed by China and strain diplomatic relations with Beijing, as Sinohydro is a state-owned Chinese firm and the dam was once touted as a landmark of bilateral cooperation.
* Original text in Spanish. Translated by Large Language Model (LLM) technology.
Main Source:
Fiscalía de Ecuador acusa al expresidente Lenín Moreno de recibir sobornos de empresa china – La Nación
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