Former chief of Equatorial Guinea’s National Agency for Financial Investigation, Baltasar Ebang Engonga – widely known as “Bello” – was handed an 18-year prison term today, July 3, 2025.
The court in Malabo found him guilty of embezzling over 1 billion CFA francs (~1.67 million USD) from state coffers. The breakdown includes an 8-year sentence for embezzlement, 4 years and 5 months for illicit enrichment, and 6 years and 1 day for abuse of power. He was also fined 910 million CFA francs and barred from public office for the full duration of his sentence.
During his trial, prosecutors presented bank transfers, offshore account records, and forged contracts as proof of his scheme to siphon funds between 2015 and 2020. Engonga’s defence denies all allegations.
This verdict comes after a sensational scandal in late 2024, when more than 400 explicit tapes emerged showing Engonga engaging in sexual encounters—many filmed in his office and featuring spouses and relatives of senior government figures. Though not criminally charged for the content of the videos, the scandal eroded any shield his political lineage once provided. Instead of shielding him, it intensified public and judicial scrutiny, unleashing a broader crackdown on corruption and ethical breaches within Equatorial Guinea’s elite.
Engonga’s sentencing is seen as a pivotal moment in the government’s effort—or at least its appearance—to reckon with entrenched corruption, especially when it concerns high-level insiders.
