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Baltasar Ebang Engonga, nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement.
Engonga, who once headed the National Financial Investigation Agency, was found guilty of diverting public funds for personal use. He was convicted alongside five other officials accused of disguising the stolen money as travel allowances ranging between $9,000 and $220,000.
Nicknamed “Bello” for his looks, Engonga became notorious last year after sex tapes allegedly involving him and several women close to powerful political figures were leaked online. The scandal broke while he was in detention, facing accusations of transferring embezzled funds into offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.
His arrest and public humiliation were widely seen as efforts to undermine his political ambitions, with speculation that he could have been a potential successor to his uncle, the world’s longest-serving president, in power since 1979. President Obiang has already appointed his son, Teodoro Obiang Mangue, as vice-president.
Engonga, who once investigated money laundering cases, was himself held at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo. Shortly after his arrest, his seized phones and computers became the source of the leaked sex tapes, fueling suspicions of an internal effort to discredit him.
In addition to the prison sentence, Engonga was fined $220,000, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo.
