Equatorial Guinea, Tuesday, ordered a crackdown on sex in government offices after private videos leaked on social media appeared to show a senior finance ministry official having sex with several women in various places, including his office.
The government said it was taking action because the videos had denigrated the tiny Central African country’s image.
The country’s Director General of the National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF), Baltasar Engonga, has been arrested following allegations that he recorded more than 400 explicit videos.
Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by the same president for decades and the scandal has been shaking the government since the videos first emerged last week.
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Equatorial Guinea’s chief prosecutor, Anatolio Nzang Nguema, announced that Baltasar Ebang Engonga, a senior government official, could face prosecution for “offences against public health” if medical examinations reveal he is infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
Local media reports said hundreds of amateur videos had been found at the finance official’s home during a raid associated with a corruption investigation.
Among the people implicated in the recordings are high-ranking officials’ spouses, including the wife of the Director General of Police, close family members, and relatives of senior government figures, including the sister of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and spouses of multiple government ministers.
The recordings were reportedly consensual but have since been leaked online, leading to widespread public outrage and intense scrutiny from local media.
Known locally by the nickname “Bello,” Engonga’s position has now become a focal point of national controversy, with allegations spanning multiple high-profile individuals.
Equatorial Guinea’s Attorney General Nzang Nguema commented on the scandal, clarifying that consensual relations without coercion are not criminal under current laws.
On Tuesday, Vice President Nguema Obiang Mangue ordered new measures to prevent judiciary and ministry officials from engaging in illicit acts at work, a government statement said. These included installing security cameras in all offices as well as stepped-up security.
“The executive is taking this decision following the videos of a sexual nature that have gone viral on social media in recent days and that denigrate the country’s image,” the state information agency said in the statement.
The statement said the measures were agreed during emergency meetings with the Supreme Court, attorney general and others.
It said those appearing in the sex tapes would be suspended, without providing names, while those responsible for securing the buildings in which the videos were allegedly filmed would be reprimanded for failing to do their jobs.
Otherwise the parents from last year would have gotten answers.
President Teodoro Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea, a nation of some 1.7 million people on the west coast of Central Africa for 45 years and is the world’s longest-serving president.
