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This concerns a potential conviction that the attorney general, Carlos Alarcón, also requested for Moreno’s wife, Rocío González; for their daughter, Irina Moreno, and for 17 other defendants, among whom is the former ambassador to China, Cai Runguo.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the former president allegedly received, along with his family, more than one million dollars out of a total of 76 million dollars in bribes that Sinohydro supposedly paid for the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, with a capacity of up to 1,500 megawatts in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The trial began almost two months ago against 21 people, but this Wednesday Alarcón told the court hearing the case that he was withdrawing the accusation made against one of the defendants charged as an accomplice.

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The Sinohydro case broke out in 2019, when the journalistic portal La Fuente published an investigation involving one of Moreno’s brothers with alleged accounts in tax havens and a luxurious property in Alicante (Spain), in an apparent triangulation by an opaque company.

That journalistic report revealed a series of connections and alleged irregularities linking Moreno to the offshore company INA Investment, which led to an initial investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office into alleged bribes collected when he held the Vice Presidency of Ecuador.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Moreno allegedly received a total of 660,000 dollars illicitly, of which 220,000 would correspond to him and his wife, allegedly in the form of a home and furniture.

Another $440,000 was apparently intended for Moreno’s brothers: Edwin ($350,000) and Guillermo ($10,000); his daughter Irina ($50,000), his sisters-in-law Jacqueline ($10,000) and Martha ($15,000), and his mother-in-law Aída Graciela ($5,000).

In addition to the prison sentence, the prosecutor asked the court to disqualify them from holding public office or having contractual ties with the State, to suspend their participation rights, and to impose a fine and the payment of comprehensive reparations.

He also requested that they issue a public apology and that an “anti-corruption plaque” be installed at the hydroelectric complex.

The trial is scheduled to be adjourned until tomorrow after the closing arguments from the Attorney General’s Office and some of the defense teams, in a hearing where former President Moreno was present in person.

Subsequently, the court will deliberate on the prosecutor’s request.