Equatorial Guinea cracks down on sex in government offices after leaked videos

Reuters
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Equatorial Guinea ordered a crackdown on sex in government offices on Tuesday after private videos leaked on social media appeared to show a senior finance ministry official having sex with multiple women in various locations, including his office.

The government said it intervened because the videos had tarnished the image of the small central African country.

Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by the same president for decades and the scandal has rocked the government since the videos first emerged last week.

Local media reports said hundreds of amateur videos had been found at the finance chief’s home during a raid in connection with a corruption investigation. The women in the videos appear to include the wives of other powerful government figures and other family members, local media said.

Reuters could not confirm the authenticity of the videos.

On Tuesday, Vice President Nguema Obiang Mangue ordered new measures to prevent officials in the judiciary and the ministry from engaging in illegal acts at work, a government statement said. These included the installation of security cameras in all offices as well as increased security.

“The executive authority takes this decision following videos of a sexual nature that have gone viral on social media in recent days and are tarnishing the country’s image,” the state information agency said in the statement.

The statement said the measures were agreed during emergency meetings with the Supreme Court, the Attorney General and others.

It said those who appeared on the sex tapes would be suspended without naming names, while those responsible for securing the buildings where the videos were allegedly recorded would be reprimanded for failing to do their jobs.

President Teodoro Obiang has ruled Equatorial Guinea, a nation of about 1.7 million people on the west coast of central Africa, for 45 years and is the world’s longest-serving president.