Indictment links former President Lenín Moreno to alleged bribery at the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project.
An Ecuadorian judge has approved prosecutors’ request to charge former President Lenín Moreno with bribery over a contract for a Chinese-built hydroelectric plant in the South American nation.
The indictment, which includes 37 people in total, links Moreno to working on the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project and establishes that the defendants received bribes of up to $76 million as part of a corruption scheme that operated between 2009 and 2018.
Moreno, who served during part of that term as vice president of Rafael Correa’s government, denied wrongdoing last month and said he had no responsibility for contracting for the complex’s works.
After Sunday’s hearing, Moreno tweeted that some of the arguments presented by the Attorney General’s Office were “arbitrary and inhumane.”
Judge Adrián Rojas decided, as a precautionary measure, that Moreno must appear every 15 days before the National Court of Justice.
After the hearing, the Attorney General’s Office said on his Twitter account that Moreno and the rest of the defendants will face justice “for their alleged participation in the crime of bribery.”
The alleged bribes represented “the highest amount prosecuted for acts of corruption in Ecuador,” added the prosecutor’s office.
Moreno, who was president of Ecuador between 2017 and 2021, currently resides in Paraguay and serves as commissioner of the Organization of American States (OAS) for disability issues.
The hydroelectric plant linked to the case was built by the Chinese company Sinohydro at a cost of 2,245 million dollars.
Ecuador’s attorney general, Diana Salazar, said last month that China has not responded to a request for assistance in the case.
Sinohydro did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
