Equatorial Guinea President’s Son Appears in Court, Faces 18-Year Sentence for Selling National Aircraft

Ruslan Obiang Nsue, a son of Equatorial Guinea’s president, faced trial on Monday in a Malabo court for illegally selling an airplane belonging to the national airline, a crime he admitted to have commited.

Prosecutors are seeking an 18-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million CFA Francs ($847,000) for the president’s son, AFP reports.

Nsue, 49, was charged with “abuse of power, abuse of office, abuse of public interest assets, and embezzlement of public funds.” The trial was suspended with no date set for judgment.

In November 2022, Equatorial Guinea authorities launched investigations after discovering the disappearance of an aircraft owned by the national airline, Ceiba Intercontinental. The plane, an ATR 72-500, had been undergoing routine maintenance in Spain since 2018.

However, investigations revealed that the aircraft had been 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.