Nairobi, August 28- A court in Equatorial Guinea has handed an eight-year prison sentence to senior government official Baltasar Ebang Engonga on charges of embezzlement, just months after he drew global attention over leaked sex tapes involving the wives of fellow officials.
According to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo, the Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of misappropriating funds by falsely claiming professional travel expenses and using the money for personal purposes.
Engonga who was married and previously headed the national financial investigation agency alongside five other top officials, faced accusations of siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars in the oil-rich Central African nation.
Widely known by his nickname “Bello,” Engonga became internationally notorious last November when explicit videos, some allegedly recorded in his finance ministry office, circulated on social media while he was already in custody over the embezzlement probe.
The court also imposed a fine of $220,000 in addition to his prison term, Mitogo confirmed.
