High official embroiled in Equatorial Guinea intercourse tape scandal jailed

[ad_1]

Contents

Extra BBC tales on Equatorial Guinea:BBC Africa podcasts

A nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who was on the centre of a intercourse tape scandal final yr, has been sentenced to eight years in jail for embezzlement.

Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the previous head of the Nationwide Monetary Investigation Company, diverted cash for private use, a court docket dominated.

Nicknamed “Bello” due to his attractiveness, the married Engonga gained notoriety final yr, when he appeared in leaked movies having intercourse with totally different ladies – a lot of them wives and family members of individuals near the centre of energy.

The leak occurred whereas he was in detention, accused of depositing an enormous sum of embezzled cash into secret accounts within the Cayman Islands.

He was discovered responsible together with 5 different officers who allegedly claimed the cash as an allowance for journey – the quantities ranged from $9,000 (£6,600) to $220,000.

Engonga’s arrest final October and public humiliation was seen as an try to destroy any hope he had of changing into the following president of the oil-rich central African state.

His uncle is the world’s longest-serving president having been in energy since 1979, and has appointed his son, Teodoro Obiang Mangue, as his vice-president.

Engonga used to research crimes reminiscent of cash laundering, however discovered himself on the notorious Black Seashore jail within the capital, Malabo, after being accused of corruption.

His telephones and computer systems have been seized and some days later the intimate movies began showing on-line of their dozens.

The authenticity of the movies was by no means verified, however as the pc gear was within the fingers of the safety forces, suspicion fell on somebody there leaking it, maybe to trash Engonga’s status.

In addition to imposing a jail sentence, the tribunal fined Engonga $220,000, supreme court docket press director Hilario Mitogo was quoted by the AFP information company as saying in a WhatsApp message to journalists.