Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, is being prosecuted for selling a plane that belonged to the government airline, and the prosecution is asking for an 18-year prison sentence. A fine of 500 million CFA francs ($850,000) is also demanded by the judges.
Following the suspected loss of an ATR 72-500 aircraft from Ceiba Intercontinental that had been missing since 2018 while in Spain, the investigation got underway in November 2022. Former airline deputy managing director Nsue acknowledged in court that he hired a Spanish company to handle the deal, but he insisted he only got 125,000 euros ($138,000) out of the 250,000 euros that were promised.
The 49-year-old, who was also a former secretary of state for sports, was charged with embezzlement, abuse of office, and misusing public funds after being taken into custody in January 2023 and put under house arrest. There is no scheduled date for a decision and the trial has been suspended.
The 82-year-old president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been governing the tiny West African country for more than 45 years. In 2021, a French court sentenced Vice President Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, his eldest son, to three years of suspended jail time and a fine of thirty million euros for embezzling public funds.