Equatorial Guinea court jails president’s son over illegal sale of national plane

A court in Equatorial Guinea has handed a six-year prison sentence to Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, after finding him guilty of illegally selling an aircraft belonging to the country’s national airline.

According to Hilario Mitogo, press director of the Supreme Court, the ruling was delivered on Tuesday. The court determined that Obiang Nsue, 50, who once served as the director of Ceiba Intercontinental, diverted funds after selling the ATR 72-500 aircraft to a Spanish company.

The judge further ruled that Obiang Nsue must reimburse the state for the missing plane, or he will serve his full six-year jail term.

He was placed under house arrest in 2023 on the order of his half-brother, the country’s vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, also a son of the president.

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Mitogo said the court ruled that Obiang Nsue could avoid jail if he paid around $255,000 to the airline, along with damages and a fine to the state.

The court acquitted him on separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.

Obiang Nsue has also served as secretary of state for sports and youth in the oil-rich central African state, ruled for the past 46 years by his father, 83.

In a separate case targeting his half-brother, a French court handed Obiang Mangue a suspended jail sentence and a $35-million fine in July 2021 after convicting him of embezzling public funds.