Officials caught having sex in their offices will face “strict measures”, Equatorial Guinea’s vice president has warned after hundreds of allegedly pornographic videos were leaked to the public.
The videos involve senior official Baltasar Ebang Engonga allegedly having sex with several 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.
The BBC has asked him for comment.
On his Facebook page, Mr Engonga posted that he was feeling sad, along with a photo of him with a wife and children with the caption: “Family is everything”.
Vice President Teodoro Obiang Mangue said any officials caught engaging in sexual acts at work will be suspended as it is a “blatant violation of the code of conduct”.
He has also ordered the installation of surveillance cameras in courts and ministries to combat “indecent and illegal acts”.
A statement from the vice president’s office said the decision was made in the wake of the widespread videos that had “denigrated the country’s image.”
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” were “flooding” social media and ordered telecom companies to curb their spread.
Since then, the flow of internet traffic – particularly image downloads – has been severely disrupted in the country, people in Equatorial Guinea told the AFP news agency.
As head of the National Financial Investigation Agency, Mr Engonga tackles financial crimes such as money laundering.
Following the outcry over the videos, Equatorial Guinea’s chief prosecutor, Anatolio Nzang Nguema, told state television that if Mr Engonga was “infected with a sexually transmitted disease” he would be prosecuted for a crime against “public health”.
He is said to have been nicknamed “Bello” – Spanish for beautiful – because of his good looks.
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