A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a senior government official, to eight years in prison for embezzlement.
Engonga, formerly the head of the national financial investigation agency, was found guilty of diverting public funds intended for official travel.
The Bioko Provincial Tribunal also imposed a $220,000 fine, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo.
The conviction follows a scandal that made international headlines last year, when leaked sex tapes involving Engonga and several officials’ wives circulated online. Some of the footage, reportedly filmed in his finance ministry office, emerged while he was in pre-trial detention.
Nicknamed “Bello,” Engonga and five others were accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in the oil-rich nation.
The tapes triggered widespread online mockery, spawning parody songs, dances, and a fake virility drug called “Balthazariem.”
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