Ex-E’Guinea Anti-corruption Chief with Over 400 Sextapes Jailed 18 years in $1.5M Corruption and Sex Scandal

Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a 47-year-old former Director General of Equatorial Guinea’s National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), has been sentenced to 18 years in jail. The court found Engonga guilty of embezzling more than 1 billion CFA francs (approximately $1.5 million) in government funds.

Engonga, who previously led the nation’s anti-graft agency, was charged with embezzlement, illicit enrichment, and abuse of office. The charges stem from his tenure as head of the Directorate General of Insurance and Reinsurance (DGAR) between 2015 and 2020, during which prosecutors alleged he orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to siphon public funds for personal gain.

The national prosecutor requested a combined sentence of 18 years: 8 years for embezzlement, 4 years and 5 months for illicit enrichment, and 6 years and 1 day for abuse of power.

In addition to the prison term, Engonga faces a lifetime ban from holding public office and a fine of approximately $1.5 million.

The trial, which began on Monday, 1 July 2025, has drawn significant attention both in Equatorial Guinea and internationally, fueled by Engonga’s prior notoriety from a 2024 scandal involving more than 400 explicit videos.

The recordings, discovered during a fraud investigation, depicted Engonga in intimate encounters with numerous women, including relatives of high-ranking government officials.

Some of the videos, filmed in his office at the Ministry of Finance, sparked widespread public outrage and led to his dismissal from ANIF by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on 4 November 2024.