A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to six years in prison for illegally selling an ATR 72-500 aircraft owned by the national airline, Ceiba Intercontinental, to a Spanish company and keeping the proceeds, according to supreme court press director Hilario Mitogo.
The ruling, issued on Tuesday, allows Obiang Nsue, 50, to avoid jail by paying approximately $255,000 to the airline, plus damages and a fine to the state.
Obiang Nsue, a former director of Ceiba Intercontinental and ex-secretary of state for sports and youth, was placed under house arrest in 2023 by his half-brother, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, also a son of the president.
The court acquitted him of separate embezzlement and abuse of office charges. In a related case, Vice-President Obiang Mangue received a suspended sentence and a $35-million fine from a French court in July 2021 for embezzling public funds.
Equatorial Guinea, an oil-rich nation, has been under President Obiang’s rule for 46 years.
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