The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace , Allen Onyema, has been charged with superseding an indictment with obstruction of justice after it was found that he submitted false documents to the US government to end an investigation that resulted in previous charges of bank fraud and money laundering.
Ejiroghene Eghagha, the airline’s chief of administration and finance, was also stung by participating in the obstruction scheme and other earlier bank fraud counts.
Frequent travel to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta local affiliate WSB-TV reported the development on Friday. According to the US Attorney, Onyema, a Nigerian Citizen, frequently traveled to Atlanta between 2010 and 2018, where he opened several personal and business bank accounts and saw more than $44.9 million allegedly transferred into his Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources.
In May, Onyema and Eghagha allegedly used several export letters of credit to ensure banks could transfer more than $20 million into the Atlanta-based accounts. These letters of credit were supposed to fund the purchase of five Boeing 737 aircraft for the Nigerian AIrline. They were supported by documents from Springfield Aviation, including purchase agreements, appraisals, and bulls of sale.
Documents were fake
Further investigation found that Springfield Aviation was owned by Onyema and managed on behalf of someone else who had no connection to the aviation business. The company that also drafted appraisals did not exist.
Eghagha participated in the scheme, directing the Springfield Aviation manager to sign and send false documents to the bank. After Onyema received the money in the US, he laundered over $16 million in fraud proceeds and transferred it into other accounts.
In 2019, Onyema discovered he was under investigation by the Northern District of Georgia for bank fraud; the two from Air Peace allegedly directed Springfield Aviation to sign a key business contract but did not date the document. Oneyema then caused his attorneys to present that same contract, which was falsely dated back to May 5, 2016, before the initial fake contract, to calm the fraud investigation.
Both Onyema and Eghagha of Lagos, Nigeria, were indicted on November 19, 2019, on the following counts:
One count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud,
Three counts of bank fraud,
One count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud
Three counts of credit application fraud
Onyema was also charged with 27 counts of money laundering, and Eghagha was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft.
Officially charged this past week
This past week, on October 8th, they were both charged with superseding the indictment, two additional counts of obstruction of justice, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
These indictments only contain charges, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt at trial. The case is criminal action number 1:19-CR-464
Source: thecapital.ng
