A nephew of Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who was at the center of a sex tape scandal last year, has been sentenced to eight years in prison for embezzlement.
Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, diverted money for personal use, a court ruled.
Nicknamed Bello because of his good looks, the married Engonga gained notoriety last year when he appeared in leaked videos having sex with different women—many of whom were wives and relatives of influential individuals within the government.
The leak occurred while he was in detention, accused of depositing a large sum of embezzled money into secret accounts in the Cayman Islands.
He was found guilty along with five other officials who allegedly claimed the money as an allowance for travel—the amounts ranged from $9,000 (£6,600) to $220,000.
Engonga's arrest last October and the public humiliation that followed were perceived as efforts to squash his aspirations for the presidency of the oil-rich nation.
His uncle, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has held power since 1979 and has appointed his son, Teodoro Obiang Mangue, as vice-president.
Interestingly, Engonga, who was previously involved in investigating crimes such as money laundering, found himself imprisoned in the notorious Black Beach facility after being linked to corruption.
His personal devices, including phones and computers, were seized, and shortly thereafter, explicit videos began to surface online in large numbers. The authenticity of these videos remains unverified, but suspicion lies with security forces handling the devices, possibly leaking them to tarnish Engonga's reputation.
The tribunal imposed a fine of $220,000 on Engonga, in addition to the prison term, as reported by the AFP news agency.
