Former Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has been sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of taking bribes linked to the construction of the country’s largest hydroelectric power project.

A court in Ecuador delivered the verdict on Friday, convicting Moreno along with 19 other defendants in a corruption case connected to the Coca Codo Sinclair dam, which was built by Chinese company Sinohydro.

Moreno served as Ecuador’s president from 2017 to 2021. Before becoming president, he was vice-president under Rafael Correa, serving during the period prosecutors say the alleged corruption took place between 2007 and 2013.

Prosecutors accused Sinohydro of paying about $76 million in bribes, representing roughly four per cent of the value of the hydroelectric project.

Moreno, 73, denied receiving any money from the Chinese company and said he would challenge the court’s decision on appeal.

He also attributed the case to political retaliation by Correa, with whom he later became estranged after taking a more conservative political direction and developing closer relations with the United States.

Moreno’s wife and other family members were also convicted in connection with the case and received prison sentences of nearly three years for complicity.

The former president had faced a request from prosecutors for a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

Two former managers of the Coca Codo Sinclair facility were among those also convicted in the corruption case.