EVEN by the standards of the absurd, the scandal that recently took place in Equatorial Guinea is astonishing. While public officials being enmeshed in scandals has become almost routine, the story in the Central African country is so decidedly rotten and befuddling that it is hard to even think of. Baltasar Engonga, the director-general of the country’s National Financial Investigation Agency (ANIF) was recently arrested for allegedly recording more than 400 sex tapes featuring the spouses of prominent personalities in the country. Investigating the 54-year-old economist for fraud, investigators had reportedly discovered the videos stored on the suspect’s electronic devices. The details are dastardly, and the women who participated in the encounters included high-profile individuals in the country’s political circles. The ANIF officials discovered multiple CDs that documented Baltasar Engonga’s romps with the sister of the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Mbasogo, the wife of the Director General of Police, and the spouses of over 20 ministers!

The encounters also reportedly involved close relations of the suspect, including his brother’s wife and another pregnant relation, and sparked public outrage. One scene purportedly showed him having intercourse next to the flag of the country, and reports suggest that his partners willingly subjected themselves to being captured on camera, with some of them even adjusting the camera to capture themselves enjoying the dark episodes. Said the local medium, Ahora EG: “Baltasar Ebang Engonga is said to have filmed these scenes with the consent of the women themselves, which exonerates him from a possible crime of violation of integrity. In the videos, he is seen having unprotected sex with several women, including those married to powerful and well-known people in the country, but also with the most ‘diva and influential’ single women in Equatorial Guinea. Some scenes took place in hotel rooms, houses, and even in the protagonist’s office at the Ministry of Finance.”