MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (Chatnewstv.com) — A court in Equatorial Guinea has convicted one of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s sons of illegally selling a plane belonging to the national airline, a court official said Tuesday.
Ruslan Obiang Nsue, 50, a former director of Ceiba Intercontinental, was sentenced to six years in prison unless he compensates the state for the missing ATR 72-500 aircraft, according to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court.
“The court ruled that Mr. Obiang Nsue must pay around $255,000 to the airline, along with damages and a fine to the state, in order to avoid serving the prison sentence,” Mitogo told reporters in a WhatsApp message.
The court found that Obiang Nsue sold the plane to a Spanish company and pocketed the proceeds. He had been placed under house arrest in 2023 on the order of his half-brother, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue.
Obiang Nsue was acquitted of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office, Mitogo said.
A former secretary of state for sports and youth, Obiang Nsue is one of several members of the ruling family who have faced legal trouble at home and abroad. In 2021, a French court handed his half-brother Obiang Mangue a suspended prison sentence and a $35 million fine after convicting him of embezzling public funds.
President Obiang, 83, has ruled the oil-rich Central African nation for 46 years, making him the world’s longest-serving head of state.
