A court in Equatorial Guinea has convicted Ruslan Obiang Nsue, a son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, for illegally selling an airplane belonging to the national airline, Ceiba Intercontinental.
The plane, an ATR 72-500, was sold to a Spanish aircraft maintenance company, Binter Technic Company, for 250,000 euros ($277,900), but Nsue claimed he only received 125,000 euros ($138,000) from the sale.
Nsue, 49, who served as the deputy general manager of Ceiba Intercontinental before his dismissal and also held the position of Secretary of State for Sports and Youth, was charged with “abuse of power, abuse of office, abuse of public interest assets, and embezzlement of public funds”. Prosecutors are seeking an 18-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million CFA francs ($847,000).
The trial, which began after the aircraft’s disappearance was discovered in November 2022, has been suspended with no date set for judgment. Nsue was arrested in January 2023 and placed under house arrest on the orders of his half-brother, Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is Equatorial Guinea’s vice president.
This case highlights another instance of corruption within the ruling family, following the conviction of the president’s eldest son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, by a French court in 2021 for embezzling public funds. Teodorin received a three-year suspended prison term and a 30 million euro fine ¹ ².
