A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Avomo Engonga, a former senior government official, to eight years in prison for embezzlement.

Engonga, who once served as Head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, rose to notoriety after sextapes involving him and several women – including the spouses of other officials – leaked online last November.

His arrest soon followed amid ongoing Investigations into corruption allegations.

Hilario Mitigo, press director of the Supreme Court, confirmed that Bioko Provincial Tribunal found Engonga guilty of diverting funds meant for professional travel expenses to personal use. Alongside the jail term, he was ordered to pay a $200,000 fine.

Engonga was tried with five other senior officials, all accused of misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funds.

The scandal has intensified scrutiny on corruption and misconduct among high-ranking figures in Equitorial Guinea.

Nickname “Bello”, Engonga made world headlines last November with the sextapes, some of them filmed in his office at the finance ministry, published on social media while he was in detention pending the embezzlement case.

-9News Nigeria.