Baltasar Ebang Engonga Gets 8-Year Jail Term Over Embezzlement Scandal

A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a senior government official, to eight years in prison for embezzlement. His conviction comes months after he became infamous worldwide when leaked sex tapes involving him and the wives of other officials surfaced on social media.

According to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court, the Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting funds meant for professional travel expenses for personal use. The case involved hundreds of thousands of dollars in embezzled public funds in the oil-rich Central African country.

Engonga, who was married and served as the head of the national financial investigation agency, was tried alongside five other top officials accused of misappropriating state resources. His notoriety grew in November when sex tapes, some allegedly filmed in his finance ministry office, went viral online while he was in detention awaiting trial.

The scandal sparked widespread ridicule, inspiring parodies, comic songs, dances, and even memes promoting a spoof virility drug called “Balthazariem.” Despite the uproar, the court focused on financial crimes, sentencing Engonga to eight years behind bars and ordering him to pay a fine of $220,000.