Ecuador's Prosecutor's Office asks to file charges against former President Lenín Moreno, 6 of his relatives and 30 other people in the Sinohydro case

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(CNN Spanish) --

Ecuador's attorney general, Diana Salazar, announced this Wednesday that she requested the National Court of Justice to set a day and time for the hearing to formulate charges in the Sinohydro case.

Through a video published by the Prosecutor's Office, Salazar details the accusation for the alleged crime of bribery against 37 people.

Among them are former President Lenín Moreno, his wife and one of his daughters, as well as two brothers and two sisters-in-law of the former president.

The case also involves businessmen, former public officials, former Chinese diplomatic officials and their trusted circles.

According to Salazar, the investigation has taken more than 25 months and is related to an alleged corruption structure around the construction of the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project, developed by the Chinese company Sinohydro in the provinces of Napo and Sucumbíos.

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Prosecutor Salazar indicated that this case had an "interstate and transnational" scope and that the illegal actions would have occurred between 2009 and 2018. She added that the investigation was opened on March 28, 2019.

The amount of the alleged bribery, according to Salazar, would be US$76 million, which would correspond to approximately 4% of the contracted value of the work.

The prosecutor affirms that the initial cost of the project was established at US$ 1,979 million dollars, but, in the execution of the work, the figure exceeded US$ 2,200 million dollars.

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"Tens of millions of dollars in bribes would have been delivered by Sinohydro and channeled by third parties using a false image of consulting and representation services and paid through gifts, checks and transfers," said the prosecutor.

CNN requested a reaction on the progress of the case from the Chinese embassy in Ecuador and is awaiting a response.

Lenin Moreno speaks flanked by former Argentine President Mauricio Macri, during the Inter-American Institute for Democracy Forum "Defense of Democracy in the Americas" in Miami, Florida, on May 5, 2021. (Photo by EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/ AFP via Getty Images)

Former President Moreno, through a public letter, ruled on the investigation against him and rejected the allegations made by prosecutor Salazar.

“I do not have nor did I have any responsibility in the contracting of the 'most emblematic work of the Citizen Revolution,' Moreno emphasized.

In addition, he said that his government denounced in October 2017 that 640 works carried out during the previous government had indications of overpricing, contractual mismanagement or were unfinished.

"It is surprising that if irregularities in Sinohydro are investigated, charges are not filed against those who did have responsibility and competence in the different stages of the contractual process," he said in the letter.

During the preliminary investigation process, the Prosecutor's Office carried out “89 tax impulses, 80 versions, 465 information requests, 13 expert opinions, 13 private hearings, five raids and 10 criminal assistance requested from countries such as Panama, Belize, Switzerland, China, the United States and Spain”, according to Salazar.

According to the Penal Code of Ecuador, the crime of bribery occurs when "public servants or persons with state power who receive or accept, by themselves or by another person, undue economic benefit or of another kind for themselves or a third party for the purpose of to do, omit, expedite, delay or condition issues related to their position or duties.

In addition, people who offer or promise a public servant an undue economic benefit or of another kind, will still incur in the commission of the crime.

Lenin Moreno