A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a senior government official, to eight years in prison for embezzlement.
The Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga, the former head of the national financial investigation agency, guilty of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for travel expenses into personal use. He was also fined $220,000, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo.
Nicknamed “Bello,” Engonga made global headlines in November 2024 after sex tapes of him with other officials’ wives surfaced online, some reportedly filmed inside his finance ministry office. The clips, released while he was in detention, triggered widespread outrage and parodies, including comic songs and a spoof drug called “Balthazariem.”
Engonga’s conviction alongside five other officials marks one of the country’s biggest corruption scandals in recent years, casting a shadow over the government’s fight against graft in the oil-rich nation.
