Equatorial Guinea suspends officials, restricts WhatsApp over sex scandal

Equatorial Guinea suspends officials, restricts WhatsApp over sex scandal

Equatorial Guinea has suspended all officials who had sexual relations in the offices of ministries.

It has also restricted its citizens from downloading and sharing multimedia files via WhatsApp.

Announcing the decision via X, Teodoro Nguema, Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president, said the government would take “severe measures” against such acts.

The country’s Director General, National Financial Investigation Agency, Baltasar Engonga, was involved in a sex scandal involving the wives of notable people.

The scandal emerged in the course of a fraud investigation against the 54-year-old economist.

Over 400 videos extracted from his place reportedly contain his sexual escapades with high-profile ladies, such as his brother’s wife, his cousin, the sister of the President of Equatorial Guinea, the Director General of Police’s wife, and about 20 of the country’s ministers’ wives.

“Today, we will proceed with the immediate suspension of all officials who have had sexual relations in the offices of the country’s ministries,” the statement read.

“The Government will take severe measures against these acts, since it constitutes a flagrant violation of the Code of Conduct and the Public Ethics Law.

“This action is a decisive step in our policy of zero tolerance towards behaviors that undermine the integrity of the public service.”

A local news platform, Ahora EG, reported that the citizens have been lamenting their inability to share photos, videos, and audio when using a mobile data connection, leading users to rely exclusively on WiFi networks to share such content.

“In a world where digitalisation is becoming more and more important, should we shut down our platforms and paralyse our activities due to the actions of a few?

“Currently, users are forced to rely exclusively on WiFi connections, which not only limits their ability to communicate but also interferes with their daily activities,” the platform quoted a citizen as saying