The former president of Ecuador, arrived this May 11 at the National Court of Justice, in Quito, where in the coming days. The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Moreno was the direct author of a corruption scheme designed to favor a Chinese company that was awarded the construction of Coca Codo Sinclair, the largest hydroelectric plant in the country. If the accusation is confirmed, Ecuador would be facing the largest corruption case in its recent history: 76 million dollars in bribes and irregular payments.
The process brings together all the ingredients of the major judicial scandals that have marked Correismo in the last decade: —the contract amounted to 1,979 million dollars—, senior officials, relatives of politicians, a lobbyist, a foreign ambassador, a Chinese company and bank, and a complex network of bank transfers. There are 21 defendants in the dock.
During the first day of the trial, the attorney general in charge, Carlos Alarcón – who at the same time is competing to remain in office – maintained that between 2008 and 2018, equivalent to 4% of the value of the contract. According to the indictment, the money was channeled through Recorsa, a company with operations in Ecuador and Panama allegedly used as a front to benefit the family of Sinohydro lobbyist Conto Patiño, a close friend of Moreno.
The Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the money was moved through checks and transfers between different groups of people, including the former president’s family. The Public Ministry assures that his wife, a daughter, a sister-in-law and two brothers would have participated in the illicit movement of around a million dollars.
In the case of Patiño, the bribes would have reached 58.8 million dollars and were distributed, according to the investigation, through his children, his son-in-law, a granddaughter and several lawyers. Another group of defendants is made up of public officials linked to the hydroelectric project, who would have mobilized about three million dollars.
The Chinese company Sinohydro won the tender to build Coca Codo Sinclair, one of the last. The plant, inaugurated in 2016, has never operated at full capacity due to technical failures and thousands of cracks detected in the infrastructure, problems that were also pointed out in audits by the Ecuadorian Comptroller’s Office.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Moreno’s participation was key to “unlocking” the contract and securing financing through the Exim Bank of China. In exchange, the accusation maintains, the former president and his entourage would have received payments in various forms: furniture, tableware and direct transfers to family members.
The work ended up costing 2,245 million dollars, well above the 1,979 million initially agreed upon. The contract was awarded in 2009, when Moreno held the vice presidency in the Correa Government. The former president’s defense insists that his powers were not related to the energy sector and that he never had any interference in the hiring of Coca Codo Sinclair. “His signature does not appear on any document,” said his lawyer, David Meza.
Moreno pointed directly against him, vice president with and then with Moreno: “He was in charge of the strategic sectors. And he will be able to say if I ever told him: ‘Jorge, favor this company’. Never,” Moreno said outside the hearing. “I will respect the institutions all my life. Do you believe that I am going to violate the institutions after having separated from someone who was violating the institutions?” added the former president, who was twice Correa’s vice president, from whom he distanced himself shortly after becoming president.
Jorge Glas will appear as a witness in the trial against his former political partner. Glas, built by the current Government, is imprisoned after being convicted in two other corruption cases.
Moreno’s return also stirred tensions within Correismo. Gabriela Rivadeneira, president of Revolución Ciudadana, assured that her return responds to an alleged pact with the Government of Daniel Noboa. “They know that there is a country in Latin America where extradition is not allowed. That was the agreement with the United States and Moreno; that is why he was in Paraguay all these years,” he declared.
Moreno was Correa’s vice president between 2007 and 2013 and became president in 2017 sponsored by the same political movement. He governed until 2021, amid serious corruption questions for his management of the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of his term, he notified the National Assembly that he would travel to the United States for three months, but he never returned to the country. That same year he was appointed commissioner of the Organization of American States for disability issues, based in Paraguay, where he remained until May 6, when he returned to Ecuador to face the trial that now threatens to redefine his political future.
