Equatorial Guinea VP will punish workers for office sex
The Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea has issued a warning against office sexual activity after viral videos surfaced. Civil servants caught engaging in sexual acts at work will face “severe measures,” the vice-president said, following the leak of hundreds of allegedly pornographic videos to the public.
The videos are said to feature high-ranking civil servant Baltasar Ebang Engonga engaging in sexual acts with several women, including the wives of prominent officials, in his office.
Mr Engonga, who heads the National Financial Investigation Agency, is also a relative of the country’s president.
The BBC has sought comment from him. On his Facebook page, Mr Engonga posted a message expressing sadness, alongside a photo of him with a woman and children, captioned: “Family is everything.”
Vice-President Teodoro Obiang Mangue stated that any officials found to be involved in such activities at work would be suspended, calling it a “flagrant violation of the code of conduct.”
He has also ordered the installation of surveillance cameras in courts and ministries to prevent “indecent and illicit acts.”
A statement from the vice-president’s office said the action was taken in response to the widely circulated videos, which have “denigrated the image of the country.”
The statement also mentioned that an investigation had been recommended.
The videos were leaked after Mr Engonga’s arrest on separate corruption charges, according to state television TVGE.
Last week, Vice-President Obiang said that “pornographic videos” had been “flooding” social media and instructed telecoms companies to curb their spread.
Since then, internet access, especially for downloading images, has been severely disrupted in the country, according to people in Equatorial Guinea who spoke with AFP.
As head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, Mr Engonga is involved in combating financial crimes such as money laundering.
In response to the video scandal, Equatorial Guinea’s chief prosecutor, Anatolio Nzang Nguema, told state TV that if Mr Engonga is found to have contracted a sexually transmitted disease, he would be prosecuted for an offence against “public health.”
Mr Engonga is reportedly known by the nickname “Bello” – meaning beautiful in Spanish – due to his good looks.
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