A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced senior government official Baltasar Ebang Engonga to eight years in prison for embezzlement, months after he drew global attention over leaked sex tapes involving officials’ wives.
The Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting funds from professional travel allowances for personal use, Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo said in a WhatsApp message to reporters.
Engonga, married and formerly head of the national financial investigation agency, was accused alongside five other officials of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses in the oil-rich Central African state.
Known by the nickname “Bello,” Engonga made headlines last November when explicit videos, some recorded in his finance ministry office, surfaced on social media while he was already in detention over the embezzlement case.
The scandal triggered a wave of parodies online, including satirical songs, dances, and memes about a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”
The provincial court also ordered him to pay a $220,000 fine, Mitogo said.
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