Baltasar Ebang Engonga, former Director-General of Equatorial Guinea’s National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement, months after going viral in a sex tape scandal that shook the country.
According to a statement on Wednesday by the country’s Supreme Court press director, Hilario Mitogo, the Bioko Provincial Tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting state funds by disguising personal expenses as official travel costs. He was also fined $220,000.
Mitogo stated that the tribunal determined Engonga had misappropriated public funds by submitting fraudulent travel claims for personal use.
He was tried alongside five other senior officials accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Engonga, who gained infamy online as “Bello” for his appearance, became the focus of public outrage after more than 400 explicit sex tapes leaked online. Many of the videos, reportedly filmed inside his government office and involving the wives of senior officials, fuelled anger over corruption and moral decay within the political elite.
In response, the government suspended several implicated officials, ordered the installation of CCTV cameras in public offices, and temporarily restricted the sharing of multimedia files on platforms such as WhatsApp to contain the spread of the scandal.
Engonga’s sentencing represents a dramatic fall from grace for the once-powerful anti-graft chief, who is also related to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
His conviction comes amid growing frustration over corruption and abuse of office in the oil-rich Central African state
