A senior government official in Equatorial Guinea has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement after a high-profile scandal that also exposed him in a series of leaked sex tapes.
Baltasar Ebang Engonga, popularly known as “Bello,” was convicted by a Bioko provincial court for diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars in fake travel claims for personal use, according to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the country’s Supreme Court.
Engonga, a married former head of the national financial investigation agency, became infamous last November when explicit videos featuring him with other officials’ wives surfaced online, some allegedly filmed in his finance ministry office.
The viral clips sparked a wave of online mockery, inspiring parody songs, dance skits, and even mentions in Burna Boy’s hit track Tatata.
Alongside five other senior officials, Engonga was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of $220,000 in addition to his eight-year jail term.
