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Equatorial Guinea Jails President’s Son For Selling National Plane.
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Court orders $255,000 repayment to avoid six-year jail term.
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Obiang family faces repeated corruption scandals internationally.
A court in Equatorial Guinea has convicted Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, for illegally selling an aircraft belonging to the country’s national airline.
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EKO HOT BLOG reports that according to Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo, the ruling delivered on Tuesday ordered Obiang Nsue to serve six years in prison unless he reimburses the state for the missing plane.
The court found the 50-year-old guilty of selling an ATR 72-500 belonging to national carrier Ceiba Intercontinental to a Spanish company and diverting the proceeds. Nsue, a former director of the airline, had been placed under house arrest in 2023 on the orders of his half-brother, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.
Mitogo explained that the court’s decision allows Nsue to avoid prison if he pays about $255,000 to the airline in addition to damages and a fine payable to the state. He was, however, acquitted of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.
Obiang Nsue has previously held government positions, including secretary of state for sports and youth, in the oil-rich central African nation that has been under his father’s rule for 46 years.
This development adds to the controversies surrounding the Obiang family. In 2021, a French court convicted Vice-President Obiang Mangue of embezzling public funds, handing him a suspended prison sentence and a $35 million fine.
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