A provincial court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced senior government official, Baltasar Ebang Engonga, popularly known as “Bello”, to eight years in prison for embezzlement, months after he drew international attention over leaked sex tapes involving officials’ wives.

According to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court, the Bioko provincial tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting public funds disguised as professional travel expenses for personal use. The court also imposed a fine of $220,000 on the former head of the national financial investigation agency.

Engonga and five other senior officials were accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in public money in the oil-rich Central African nation.

The scandal surrounding Engonga gained global notoriety in November 2024, when explicit videos — some reportedly recorded in his finance ministry office — surfaced on social media while he was in detention. The tapes triggered a wave of online ridicule, inspiring parody songs, dances, and even a spoof virility drug dubbed “Balthazariem.”

The high-profile conviction is being seen as a rare move in a country where allegations of corruption against senior officials often go unpunished.