A senior government official in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement, just months after becoming infamous for appearing in sex tapes involving other officials’ wives.
The Bioko Provincial Tribunal found Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, guilty of diverting government funds meant for official travel for his personal use.
According to the Supreme Court’s press director Hilario Mitogo, Engonga and five other officials were accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds in the oil-rich Central African nation.
The court also ordered Engonga to pay a fine of $220,000 (about Ksh 28.5 million).
Engonga, who is married and widely known by his nickname “Bello,” first made headlines in November last year when several explicit videos leaked online while he was still in custody awaiting trial.
The tapes some filmed inside his finance ministry office showed him with multiple women, including wives of other government officials.
The scandal caused a storm on social media, sparking memes, parody songs, and even jokes about a fake aphrodisiac dubbed “Balthazariem.”
This case has raised fresh concerns about corruption and moral standards among senior government officials in Equatorial Guinea, a country often criticized for lack of transparency despite its vast oil wealth.
