A nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement, a year after a high-profile sex-tape leak thrust him into the spotlight.
Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Financial Investigation Agency and known by the nickname “Bello,” was found to have diverted public funds for personal use, a court ruled. He was convicted alongside five other officials accused of falsely claiming travel allowances worth between $9,000 (£6,600) and $220,000.
As well as the jail term, Engonga was fined $220,000, Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo told journalists in a WhatsApp message, as reported by AFP.
Engonga’s arrest last October was widely interpreted as a blow to any presidential ambitions he was seen to harbour in the oil-rich Central African state. President Obiang—the world’s longest-serving head of state, in power since 1979—has appointed his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, as vice-president.
The scandal erupted while Engonga was in detention over allegations he had deposited a large sum of embezzled money in secret Cayman Islands accounts. Shortly after security forces seized his phones and computers, dozens of intimate videos surfaced online, appearing to show him with multiple women, including relatives of people close to the ruling elite. The authenticity of the videos was never independently verified, and suspicion fell on a leak from within the security services.
Before his downfall, Engonga’s agency handled financial-crime probes such as money-laundering cases. He was held at Black Beach prison in the capital, Malabo, after being accused of corruption.