PRESENT. –
Associate judge Bayardo Espinosa must decide on the request against Lenín Moreno, for the Sinohydro case. The measures of nine other defendants are also reviewed. Since March 13, 2023, the 37 defendants in the Sinohydro case had to appear periodically before the National Court of Justice (CNJ) to guarantee their presence in a possible bribery trial. However, 10 of the suspects failed to comply with the measures dictated at the hearing to formulate charges.
For this reason, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) requested that the measures for these people be reviewed. Associate judge Bayardo Espinosa summoned the procedure for this review for 10:00 on April 19, 2023. In his intervention, Wilson Toainga, surrogate State Attorney General, requested that, as a breach of the alternative measures issued in the first instance had been configured, they be left without effect. He also requested that preventive detention be ordered for the following defendants: Lenín Moreno, Rocío González, Irina Moreno, Xavier Macías, María Auxiliadora Patiño, Liu Asheng Cai Runguo, Pablo Zatizabal, Mauricio Pérez and Francisco Castello. In addition, in the case of the defendants who are abroad, such as Lenín Moreno and his wife, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that Interpol be notified of their search and capture. At 4:20 p.m. on April 19, 2023, after hearing the intervention of all the defendants, associate judge Bayardo Espinosa suspended the hearing to deliberate on his decision. He did not announce a date for reinstatement.
The alleged bribery would have been committed between 2010 and 2018. This alleged bribery plot became the largest in the country’s history. The Prosecutor’s Office quantifies the illegal movement of money at around USD 76 million, for which it prosecuted 37 people. Previously, in the Bribes 2012-2016 and Odebrecht cases, there were only up to 21 defendants and the amount of the bribes did not exceed USD 33.5 million. According to the initial theory of the case, Sinohydro, a Chinese company, paid those bribes in exchange for signing the contract for the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant in its favor. As well as the financing of the work in favor of the EximBank of China. On June 3, 2023, the prosecutor’s investigation will end and Diana Salazar will present a formal accusation to find out who will go to a possible trial. / Scoops ec