Quito, (EFE).- The Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office requested this Wednesday the provisional detention of former President Lenín Moreno, who held the country’s main position from 2017 to 2021.
The request of the prosecuting body occurs after he did not comply with the periodic appearance regime.
The former president was to appear before the court handling the Sinohydro case, in which he is accused of receiving bribes for the construction of the largest hydroelectric plant in the country.
Moreno, who works in Asunción as commissioner of the Organization of American States (OAS) for Disability Affairs, was due to appear in Quito on March 20.
The former president has to appear before the National Court of Justice, according to the request for biweekly appearances imposed by Judge Adrián Rojas.
Initially, the Prosecutor’s Office had requested prison for all the defendants in this case, but not Moreno and 12 other people over 65 years of age.
The Constitution of Ecuador exempts from this measure, but the failure to appear periodically led the Public Ministry to request, now, his imprisonment.
In addition to Moreno, the pretrial detention requested by the Prosecutor’s Office also falls on eight other people accused of the same case.
They include the former first lady and wife of the former president, Rocío González, and their daughter, Irina Moreno.
Lenín Moreno alleged medical problems
Moreno, who uses a wheelchair, rejected the judge’s request that he was forced to travel to Ecuador every two weeks.
The former president even tried to avoid it through various resources that did not generate an effect in his favor.
The main argument used by Moreno was his delicate physical condition, for which reason making frequent trips could apparently lead to the risk of suffering health problems.
The hearing to review the measures requested by the Prosecutor’s Office was suspended and will be called again for Judge Mauricio Espinosa to report on his decision.
In total there are 37 accused of bribery in the case where the Prosecutor’s Office estimates that the Chinese state company Sinohydro paid 76 million dollars in alleged bribes.
The objective of these bribes was the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, the most powerful in the country, with 1,500 megawatts.
The events allegedly occurred when Moreno was vice president during the mandate of Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
reject accusation
The case broke out in 2019, when the journalistic portal La Fuente published an investigation.
The article linked one of Moreno’s brothers with accounts in tax havens and a property in Alicante (Spain), in a triangulation of an opaque company.
That report revealed a series of links and alleged irregularities that linked Moreno to the company INA Investment, which led to an initial investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Moreno denied that accusation and suggested that it is due to a political strategy by Rafael Correa, his main political rival in his country.
Correa resides in Belgium and has been sentenced in 2020 by the Ecuadorian Justice for bribery in another corruption case.
He has also denied having anything to do with the residence in Alicante as well as with the ways in which the construction of the plant was paid for.