Equatorial Guinea: Balthazar Ebang Engonga sentenced to eight years in prison

The Provincial Court of Bioko sentenced the former director of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), Balthazar Ebang Ebanga, eight years in prison and a fine of 125.4 million CFA francs (around 190,000 euros).

It is a legal blow for those who, already weakened by a sex scandal at the end of 2024, saw his career sinking definitively. According to Hilario Mitogo, Press Director of the Supreme Court of Justice of Malabo, the defendant, Balthazar Ebang Engonga participated in a vast system of corruption involving the transfer of millions of CFA francs to offshore accounts.

The prosecution had required up to 18 years’ imprisonment against Balthazar Ebang Engonga and several of his co -accused, among which also included women accused of complicity. Finally, the court retained a less heavy sentence but accompanied by a particularly dissuasive financial sanction.

A trial under security supervision

The case crystallized national and international attention, both by its financial aspect and by its sulfurous context. At the helm, the judges stressed that the diverted amounts, between 5 and 125 million CFA francs (7,600 to 190,000 euros), had been justified by alleged fees of missions and travel already covered by the State.

This trial also rekindled the memories of the end of 2024 sex scandal, during which hundreds of intimate videos showing the ex-director of the ANIF had been broadcast.

These images staged him with women presented as the wives of senior officials and relatives of power, throwing stigma on the state apparatus.