A senior government official in Equatorial Guinea, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison for embezzlement. This conviction comes months after he gained notoriety due to leaked sex tapes involving him and the wives of other officials.

Baltasar Ebang Engonga

The Bioko provincial tribunal convicted Baltasar Ebang Engonga of diverting money claimed as professional travel expenses for personal use, the supreme court press director Hilario Mitogo told reporters in a WhatsApp message on Wednesday.

Baltasar Ebang Engonga Engonga, a married former head of the national financial investigation agency in Equatorial Guinea, along with five other senior officials, was accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses. The oil-rich central African state has been grappling with corruption allegations.

Nicknamed “Bello”, Engonga made world headlines in November with the sex tapes, some of them filmed in his office at the finance ministry, published on social media while he was in detention pending the embezzlement case.

The leaked clips sparked a viral wave of online parodies, with people creating humorous songs, dances, and memes. The mockery even extended to a fictional virility drug called “Balthazariem”, further amplifying the controversy surrounding Baltasar Engonga.

According to Hilario Mitogo, the provincial court sentenced Baltasar Engonga to 8 years in prison and imposed a fine of $220,000.