A former Equatorial Guinea’s Director General of National Financial Investigation Agency, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, received an eight-year jail term on Wednesday, for embezzlement.
Engonga, who gained notoriety in November 2024 for appearing in a series of sex tapes with other officials’ wives, was convicted by the Bioko provincial tribunal for diverting money claimed as professional travel expenses for personal use.
Equatorial Guinea’s Supreme Court Press Director, Hilario Mitogo, told reporters in a WhatsApp message that Engonga and five other senior officials were found culpable in the embezzling of expenses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the oil-rich central African state.
Last November, Engonga, nicknamed “Bello”, made world headlines with the sex tapes, some of them filmed in his office at the finance ministry, published on social media while he was in detention pending the embezzlement case.
The clips prompted a wave of online parodies, including songs and dances and posts about a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem”.
Mitogo said the provincial court handed Engonga an eight-year sentence and a fine worth $220,000.
AFP
This is a serious fall from grace — from a viral sex scandal to prison for corruption. It shows how deep moral and financial rot can run in government.