A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced senior government official Baltasar Ebang Engonga to eight years in prison for embezzlement, months after he made global headlines when leaked sex tapes featuring him and the wives of other officials went viral.
Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court, confirmed that a Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds meant for official travel. He was also fined $220,000.
Engonga, who previously headed the national financial investigation agency, stood trial alongside five other senior officials accused of misusing state resources in the oil-rich nation.
His notoriety spiked last November when explicit videos—some allegedly filmed inside his finance ministry office—spread online while he was already in detention. The scandal sparked widespread ridicule, inspiring memes, parody songs, dances, and even a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”
Despite the sensational fallout, the court restricted its judgment to financial misconduct, imposing the prison term and hefty fine.
