Equatorial Guinea govt dismisses anti-graft chief, Baltasar Ebang Engonga

The government of Equatorial Guinea has dismissed Baltasar Ebang Engonga as Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF) after widely circulating sex videos involving him and numerous women surfaced online.

The government earlier suspended Mr Engonga following the leak of over 400 alleged sex tapes of him in intimate situations with multiple women, some linked to high-profile figures in the country. 

Real Equatorial Guinea reported that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo ordered the dismissal of Mr Engonga, the son of Baltasar Engonga Edjo, current president of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC).

The newspaper added that according to Decree No. 118/2024, dated 4 November, the dismissal cites Mr Engonga’s alleged misconduct in office, alongside family and social behaviour deemed incompatible with public office.

A state television station in the country, TVGE, reported Mr Engonga’s sex tapes were leaked when he was remanded in custody at Malabo’s infamous Black Beach prison over an embezzlement of public funds.

Meanwhile, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue directed the country’s telecommunications ministry, regulator, and telecommunications companies to curb the distribution of pornographic videos.

He emphasised that the government cannot continue to allow families to be harmed by the viral circulation of the 54-year-old economist’s video.

Equatorial Guinea’s chief prosecutor, Anatolio Nzang Nguema, has assured the people that if medical tests confirmed the economist had a sexually transmitted disease, he would face prosecution for endangering ‘public health’.