Baltasar ‘Bello’ Ebang Engonga, a great-nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has been acquitted by that country’s Supreme Court in the case involving some 400 sex tapes.
The apex court acquitted Engonga, the recently sacked Director-General of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), of all charges related to explicit videos that went viral on social media.
In its ruling on Wednesday, November 27, 2024, the court determined that the intimate encounters shown in the videos were consensual.
The court found no evidence of coercion, abuse of power, or assault.
The court emphasised that medical tests proved that Engonga had not passed any sexually transmitted diseases to those involved.
It would be recalled that the scandal erupted after footage emerged of Engonga engaging in intimate acts with multiple women, some allegedly filmed in his office.
One of them, a light-skinned married woman, alleged that while some recordings were consensual and deleted, others were made without her consent.
She expressed deep regret over the video’s public release, stating they were never intended for distribution.
Meanwhile, several married men whose wives appeared in the videos have expressed gratitude to Engonga.
They revealed that the videos exposed hidden aspects of their married lives, leading some to pursue divorce.
Engonga has announced plans to take legal action against individuals responsible for leaking the videos.
He described the dissemination as a grave violation of his privacy, highlighting the emotional distress it caused his family, particularly his wife.
Before his arrest, Engonga as head of ANIF worked to combat crimes like money laundering in Equatorial Guinea.
On October 25, Engonga was detained over allegations of embezzling substantial state funds and hiding them in offshore accounts.
He has not publicly addressed these accusations.
Despite the acquittal, the incident has sparked national debates about privacy, consent, and the ethical implications of sharing private content in the digital era.
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