Photo Credit:Associated Press
The vice-president of Equatorial Guinea has issued a stern warning that civil servants caught engaging in sexual activities within their offices will face "strict penalties. This follows the leak of hundreds of purportedly pornographic videos to the public. The videos reportedly involve high-ranking civil servant Baltasar Ebang Engonga having sex with various women - including the wives of prominent officials - in his office.
Mr Engonga is head of the country's National Financial Investigation Agency and also a relative of the country's president. On his Facebook page, Mr Engonga has posted that he is feeling sad, along with a photo of him with a woman and children captioned: Family is everything.
Vice-President Teodoro Obiang Mangue said any officials found engaging in sex acts at work would be suspended as this was a flagrant violation of the code of conduct. He has also ordered the installation of surveillance cameras in courts and ministries to combat.indecent and illicit acts.
A statement from the vice-president's office said the decision had been taken in the wake of the widely circulated videos which had denigrated the image of the country. It added that he had recommended opening an investigation.
The videos in question were leaked after Mr Engonga was arrested on separate corruption charges, state television TVGE said. Last week, Vice-President Obiang said pornographic videos had been flooding social media and ordered telecoms companies to curb the spread. Since then, the flow of internet traffic - particularly the downloading of images - has been severely disrupted in the country, people in Equatorial Guinea said.
As head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, Mr Engonga works on tackling financial crimes such as money laundering. He is reportedly nicknamed Bello - Spanish for beautiful - on account of his good looks. Following the furore over the videos, Equatorial Guinea's chief prosecutor
Anatolio Nzang Nguema told state TV that if Mr Engonga was found to have been infected with a sexually transmitted disease he would be prosecuted for an offence against public health
