Son of Equatorial Guinea president faces 18-year sentence for selling national aircraft

Ruslan Obiang Nsue, a son of Equatorial Guinea’s president, appeared in court on Monday in Malabo, facing charges for the illegal sale of a national airline aircraft—a crime he has admitted to committing.

Prosecutors are seeking an 18-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million CFA Francs ($847,000) for Nsue, according to AFP reports.

The 49-year-old is charged with “abuse of power, abuse of office, abuse of public interest assets, and embezzlement of public funds.” The trial has been suspended, with no date set for the judgment.

The case stems from an investigation launched in November 2022, following the discovery that an aircraft owned by the national airline, Ceiba Intercontinental, had gone missing.

The plane, an ATR 72-500, had been undergoing routine maintenance in Spain since 2018. Subsequent investigations revealed that the aircraft was sold to a Spanish aircraft maintenance company, Binter Technic Company.

“I acknowledge a contract for the sale of the plane for 250,000 euros ($277,900), but I only received 125,000, which I put into my bank account in Spain,” Nsue told the court.

Nsue was formerly the deputy general manager of Ceiba Intercontinental before his dismissal. He also served as the Secretary of State for Sports and Youth.

Arrested in 2023, Nsue was placed under house arrest on the orders of his half-brother, Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is Equatorial Guinea’s vice president.

The president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 82, has ruled Equatorial Guinea for 45 years since his coup against his uncle in 1979. He is the world’s longest-serving ruler alive, excluding monarchs.

In July 2021, the president’s eldest son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue, was sentenced by a French court to a three-year suspended prison term and fined 30 million euros for embezzling public funds. The sale of his assets in France generated 6 million euros.