Equatorial Guinea President’s Son Sentenced to Prison for Selling the Country’s Plane

In a significant legal development, Ruslan Obiang Nsue, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has been sentenced to six years in prison for the illegal sale of a national airline aircraft.

The court ruling, delivered on August 26, 2025, concluded that Obiang Nsue, aged 50, unlawfully sold an ATR 72-500 aircraft belonging to the state-owned airline, Ceiba Intercontinental, to a Spanish company and appropriated the proceeds for personal use.

The court’s decision allows Obiang Nsue to avoid imprisonment if he reimburses approximately $255,000 to the airline, in addition to paying fines and damages to the state. Failure to comply with this restitution will result in the full six-year prison sentence being enforced.

Obiang Nsue, who previously served as the director of Ceiba Intercontinental and as Secretary of State for Sports and Youth, has been under house arrest since 2023, following an order by his half-brother, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue. The court acquitted him of separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.

This conviction adds to a series of corruption scandals involving members of the Obiang family, who have ruled the oil-rich central African nation for over four decades.