By Ebiere Kekeboro
A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a former senior anti-financial crimes official, to eight years in prison for embezzlement months after he gained global notoriety over leaked sex tapes with officials’ wives.
The Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for official travel expenses to personal use, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo.
Engonga, widely known by his nickname “Bello”, once headed the national financial investigation agency. He and five other senior officials faced charges over falsified travel claims in the oil-rich Central African nation.
The scandal took a sensational turn last November when sex videos of Engonga, some recorded inside his finance ministry office surfaced online while he was in pre-trial detention.
The clips, featuring him with officials’ wives, sparked a frenzy of parodies on social media, including mock songs, dances, and jokes about a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”
Despite the public uproar, the court focused on financial misconduct. Mitogo confirmed that Engonga received an eight-year sentence along with a $220,000 fine.
The case has fueled debate in Equatorial Guinea, where vast oil wealth has done little to curb corruption scandals among political and administrative elites.