Former Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno on Tuesday denounced as “a farce” the bribery charges that prosecutors say link him and his family to US$76 million in payments from a Chinese state builder that managed what was part of one of the biggest South American projects in Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.
He insisted the accusations are a political vendetta orchestrated by former president Rafael Correa, under whose government the controversial Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant was contracted and built.
The rivalry between the two has dominated Ecuador’s politics for nearly a decade as Moreno was elected in 2017 as Correa’s chosen successor but quickly distanced himself from his mentor. Correa, who now lives in Belgium, was later sentenced in absentia for corruption and has accused Moreno of betrayal.
In a statement from Paraguay, where he now lives, Moreno said the bribery case was nothing more than retaliation.
“This is political persecution disguised as justice. They [Correa allies] do not forgive electoral defeats or the investigations that curbed their influence in Ecuador,” he wrote.
Moreno argued that the accusations rely on “old family acquaintances” with contractors and do not prove any wrongdoing.
