Equatorial Guinea: President’s Son Jailed for Corruption 

A court in Equatorial Guinea has found Rulsan Obiang Nuse, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago, guilty of illegally selling an aircraft belonging to the national carrier.  

The judge ruled that Obiang Nuse, a former director of Ceiba Intercontinental, must serve six years in prison unless he compensates the airline with $255,000, including paying damages for the losses incurred and paying a state fine. He was convicted of selling a Ceiba-owned ATR 72-500 to a Spanish Company and pocketing the proceeds. 

In 2023, Obiang Nuse was placed under house arrest by his half-brother, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, when the allegations against him were disclosed. However, the court acquitted him of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office. 

His conviction is not an exceptional case; a court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Baltasar Ebang Engonga, the former head of the National Agency for Financial Investigation and the nephew, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to eight years in prison. 

Engonga, who became infamous for his leaked sex tapes with several women, some allegedly, the wives of senior officials, was found guilty of embezzlement. Amid the widespread circulation of the videos, the presidency dismissed him from his post for “grave misconduct incompatible with public office.” According to the tribunal, he had laundered state funds, disguising them as professional travel expenses that were used for his personal benefits.  

While the spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice has framed the ruling as an indication of the administration’s commitment to combating corruption and proving that no official is above the law, some civil society groups remain sceptical. One anti-corruption activist described the case as a reflection of the fragility of the system.

These two recent cases shed light on the political state in Equatorial Guinea. Ruled by the world’s longest serving president, 83-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the country has become a reflection of a prebendal society. In 2024, he was awarded the Lifetime Non-Achievement Award for his regime’s corruption, unlawful arrests, forced disappearances and torture. President Nguema has also been known for appointing his relatives to what is steadily becoming a family dynasty. 

President Nguema’s heir apparent, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the country’s vice-president, has also become notorious for his lavish lifestyle. Teodorin, as he is widely known, was forced to surrender his $30 million mansion in Malibu and his other assets by the US Justice Department after it was discovered that he had “looted his government and shaken down businesses in his country” to fund his lifestyle while his citizens lived in abject poverty.

In 2016, Swiss prosecutors seized 11 luxury cars owned by Teodorin. The following year, a court in France convicted him of embezzlement, and he was given a three-year suspended sentence in absentia, including a $30 million euro fine. 

These cases, though separate, highlight the bitter truth, as said by Ana Lúcia Sá, “in Equatorial Guinea, the political elite is a family and they’re the economic elite too.”