August 27, (THEWILL) — A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced senior government official, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, to eight years in prison for embezzlement, months after he made headlines over leaked sex tapes involving wives of other officials.
The Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars that were presented as travel expenses but used for personal purposes.
Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court, confirmed the ruling, adding that the court also imposed a fine of $220,000.
Engonga, a former head of the national financial investigation agency, was prosecuted alongside five other officials implicated in the scheme in the oil-rich Central African nation.
Popularly known as “Bello,” Engonga gained global attention last November when explicit sex tapes — some reportedly filmed in his office at the finance ministry — surfaced on social media while he was in detention.
The scandal triggered a wave of online parodies, including songs, dances, and jokes about a fictional virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”
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