Former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno was prosecuted for bribery

First modification: 03/06/2023 – 14:09

Lenín Moreno is already formally prosecuted for bribery and acceptance of bribes to favor public contracts for a Chinese company. This was confirmed this Sunday, March 5, by Judge Adrián Rojas, who also ruled that the former president must appear before the National Court of Justice every 15 days to avoid preventive detention during the development of the investigation that will be carried out against him.

For the Ecuadorian justice, the indications about the ex-president are clear. Like those that exist on a good part of his family. Apparently, Moreno was part of a corruption network that was in charge of favoring the Chinese company Sinohydro to win the Coca-Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam project, the largest in Ecuador. All in exchange for some bribes that had a total cost overrun of 76 million dollars on the value of the work, which all Ecuadorians paid.

In addition to Lenín Moreno, his wife, his daughter, two of his brothers and two sisters-in-law have also been linked to this plot, who also received commissions. In fact, of the 76 million cost overruns of the total work, preliminary investigations have estimated that some 660,000 dollars would have gone to the family of the former Ecuadorian ruler.

37 people are involved in the Sinohydro case

In addition, 220,000 of that sum would have gone in favor of Lenín Moreno and his wife through an apartment in the province of Alicante, in Spain, and its furniture.

The greatest beneficiary of the plot within his family would be Edwin with $350,000, followed by his daughter Irina, with $50,000, and his other brother and sisters-in-law, with $10,000 each. All of them, like Lenín Moreno, must appear before the court, although every eight days.

It is estimated that there are 30 other people involved in the plot, in addition to the family of the former president. Among them are the former Chinese ambassador Cai Runguo and Wu Yu, who was the highest representative of Sinohydro in the South American country. Wu was also the only person remanded in custody, so it is understood that he could be a flight risk.

Among the measures taken against those investigated is the freezing of their bank accounts and the express prohibition of going abroad. The question now is to know what the former president, who currently lives in Paraguay, will do when serving as commissioner before the Organization of American States for disability issues. Shortly after his presidency ended, Moreno notified Congress of his departure from the country for a period of three months, however, he has not returned to Ecuador since 2021.

Coca-Codo Sinclair, a controversial macro-infrastructure

The Coca-Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam was one of the projects that Ecuador had historically aspired to supply electricity to a good part of the country, but it did not begin to materialize until 2010, during the government of former President Rafael Correa. In that government, Lenín Moreno was vice president between 2007 and 2013, when he was relieved of his position to later run for the Presidency for the ruling party in 2017.

This work was loaded with delays, several work accidents were reported, it had a higher budget than projected and after its completion in 2016 it has had several structural failures that have prevented it from operating at full capacity. Issues ranging from cracks in infrastructure to erosion in part of the riverbed that feeds it.

To this is added the question of bribery, a case uncovered after a journalistic investigation carried out by the portal ‘La Fuente’ in 2019 and which revealed a series of links and alleged irregularities that linked Moreno with the company INA Investment of his brother Edwin. This publication caused the Prosecutor’s Office to act and the Sinohydro plot was later discovered.

Lenín Moreno claims to be innocent

Lenín Moreno denied all the charges against him and speculated that this investigation may be led by former President Rafael Correa, who has also been called to trial, but as a witness.

Although Correa and Moreno were allies for years, once Moreno came to power, his relationship with Correa deteriorated to the point of becoming rivals.

Moreno supported and defended the attempts to prosecute Correa and was an active defender of the permanent political disqualification against his former partner, who currently lives in Belgium and has not set foot in Ecuador for years.

With EFE and local media