A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a former senior government official, to eight years in prison after he was found guilty of embezzlement in a high-profile case that has gripped the nation.
Engonga, who previously headed the country’s National Financial Investigation Agency, gained notoriety in November 2024 when several sex tapes of him with multiple women, including the wives of other senior officials, were leaked on social media.
The scandal broke while he was already under investigation for corruption, further fuelling public outrage.
According to Hilario Mitogo, Press Director of the Supreme Court, the Bioko provincial tribunal determined that Engonga diverted funds earmarked for professional travel expenses for his personal benefit.
The court also handed him a fine of $220,000 as part of the judgment.
Engonga was tried alongside five other senior officials, who were similarly accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds.
While details of their individual sentences were not immediately disclosed, court documents revealed that the charges stemmed from a broader investigation into widespread financial misconduct within government agencies.
The case highlighted both corruption and scandal at the highest levels of government. For many Equatoguineans, the leaked sex tapes underscored what they described as a “culture of impunity” among political elites.
