Equatorial Guinea Court Jails Senior Official for Embezzlement

A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced senior government official Baltasar Ebang Engonga to eight years in prison for embezzlement.

According to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo, the Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting funds he had claimed as professional travel expenses for personal use. The former head of the national financial investigation agency, along with five other officials, was accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in the oil-rich Central African nation.

Engonga, widely known by the nickname “Bello,” had already drawn international attention last November when explicit videos of him with the wives of fellow officials circulated on social media. Some of the tapes were reportedly filmed inside his finance ministry office, sparking widespread online mockery, parody songs, and even a spoof drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”

The provincial court also ordered him to pay a fine of $220,000.