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 guilty of diverting funds allocated for professional travel expenses to his personal use, according to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the country’s Supreme Court.
He confirmed the ruling to reporters via WhatsApp on Wednesday.
Engonga, a married former head of the national financial investigation agency, was tried alongside five other senior officials accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funds in the oil-rich Central African nation.
Nicknamed “Bello,” Engonga drew global attention last November when sex tapes featuring him with wives of other officials surfaced on social media while he was already in detention.
Some clips, reportedly filmed inside his finance ministry office, triggered a storm of ridicule online, spawning parody songs, dances, and even a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”
The provincial court also imposed a fine of $220,000 on Engonga in addition to the custodial sentence.
Source: AFP
