Ecuadorian prosecutors today requested preventive detention for former President Lenín Moreno and his wife Rocío González, charged with their alleged involvement in the Sinohydro case.
Since March 13, the 37 defendants in the Sinohydro case have had to appear regularly before the National Court of Justice (CNJ) to guarantee their presence in a possible bribery trial, but Moreno, his wife and nine other suspects failed to do so measures ordered at the oral hearing to bring charges.
Moreno and González had requested to appear at the embassy of Asunción-Paraguay, where they reside, but a court of the National Court of Justice dismissed the precautionary habeas corpus complaint brought by the former Ecuadorian president’s defense.
Assistant Attorney General Wilson Toainga requested that the first instance alternative measures be allowed to be framed as a violation without effect and requested preventive detention orders for those involved.
In the case of the accused who were abroad, such as Lenín Moreno and his wife, prosecutors asked Interpol to report their searches and arrests.
According to the thesis of the Ecuadorian Attorney General, the 37 people investigated in the case formed a criminal structure that collected $76 million in bribes from the Chinese company Sinohydro, which was responsible for the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power station, from Rafael Correa’s government.
The complaints against Moreno stemmed from an investigation titled The Presidential Circle Offshore Labyrinth released in 2019 into a corruption case directly involving INA Investment Corporation, a company founded by Edwin Moreno, which allegedly took part of the name of the daughters of the former bosses bears of state.
According to the registered documents, this company managed accounts at Balboa Bank in Panama, from which expensive furniture, carpets and other luxury items were purchased for Moreno’s apartment in Geneva (Switzerland), where he served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for People with Disabilities.