Equatorial Guinea President’s son sentenced to prison for selling off national plane

A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Ruslan Obiang Nsue, one of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo’s sons, to six years in prison for illegally selling a plane belonging to the state-owned airline, Ceiba Intercontinental.

Supreme Court press director Hilario Mitogo confirmed on Tuesday that the 50-year-old, who once headed the national carrier, sold the ATR 72-500 aircraft to a Spanish company and kept the proceeds for himself.

The judgment, however, allows Obiang Nsue to avoid prison if he repays about $255,000 to the airline in addition to fines and damages owed to the state.

He had been under house arrest since 2023 on the orders of his half-brother, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who also happens to be a son of the president. The court cleared him of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.

Obiang Nsue previously served as secretary of state for sports and youth. His conviction adds to a series of corruption scandals involving members of the ruling family in the oil-rich central African nation, which has been under the leadership of President Obiang for 46 years