An Ecuadorian judge approved on Sunday prosecutors' request to charge former President Lenin Moreno with bribery over a contract for a Chinese-built hydroelectric plant in the South American nation.
The indictment, which includes 37 people in all, links Moreno to work on the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric project and states that the defendants received bribes of up to $76 million as part of a corruption scheme that operated between 2009 and 2018.
Moreno, who served during part of that period as vice president under the government of Rafael Correa, denied wrongdoing last month, saying that he had no responsibility in the contracting of the works of the complex. After the hearing on Sunday, Moreno tweeted that some of the arguments put forward by the Attorney General's Office were "arbitrary and inhumane".
Judge Adrian Rojas decided, as a precautionary measure, that Moreno must appear every 15 days before the National Court of Justice.
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