By Seyi Babalola
A court in Equatorial Guinea sentenced a top politician, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, to eight years in prison for embezzlement on Wednesday.
Engonga was also well-known for featuring in a series of sex tapes with the wives of other officials.
Baltasar Ebang Engonga was convicted by the Bioko provincial tribunal of diverting money billed as professional travel expenses for personal use, according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo, who told reporters in a WhatsApp message.
Engonga, the married former head of the national financial investigation agency, and five other senior officials were accused of embezzling expenses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the oil-rich central African state.
Nicknamed “Bello”, Engonga made world headlines in November with the sex tapes, some of them filmed in his office at the finance ministry, published on social media while he was in detention pending the embezzlement case.
The clips prompted a wave of online parodies, including songs and dances and posts about a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem”.
Mitogo said the provincial court handed Engonga an eight-year sentence and a fine worth $220,000.