By CJ BUKOLA OKUNS
A court in the United States has reissued an order for the arrest of CEO and Founder Air Peace Limited, Mr. Allen Onyema following a 20 million dollar bank fraud charges against him for the past five years. In the previous charges levied against him, he was accused of moving suspicious amounts of funds from Nigerian to American bank accounts which were alleged to be for the purchase of aircrafts. The CEO and the Chief of Administration and Finance, Mr. Ejiroghene Eghaghawho was a co defendant, had allegedly organized the fraud by applying for export letters of credit for the transfer of funds from a Nigerian account to Mr. Onyema’s firm overseas, Springfield Aviation.
Furthermore, Mr Onyema was alleged to have moved about 15 million dollars from said Springfield Aviation’s account to his personal savings account in 2017. Each of the 27 transactions have earned him a charge for money laundering. He had also recruited a woman by name, Miss Mayfield who posed as the manager of said Springfield Aviation and enter into contracts on its behalf. One of such contracts was signed by her and presented by Mr Onyema’s attorneys in a bid to stop the investigation leveled against him and unfreeze his bank accounts.
The prosecutors stated to the court that she had no connection with the aviation business added to the fact that she infact had no prior education, training or licensing in either the review or valuation of aircrafts, inclusive of aircraft components. For Ms. Mayfield’s role in the act, the US District Court sentenced her to three years probation and the submission of alleged false documents formed the basis of a count of the obstruction of justice and another count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
The two new counts added to the prior 36 counts consisting of acts of bank fraud, money laundering, identity theft, conspiracy and credit application fraud. Nevertheless, Mr. Onyema’s attorneys have stood firmly on his innocence. Air Peace, reacting to the superseding indictment, stated that both Mr. Onyema and Mr. Eghagha were innocent, dismissing the charges as mere allegations. It further stated that in due time, the truth would be revealed and the defendants, exonerated. Conclusively, they reassured the public that the ongoing legal proceedings would not impact the safety, reliability and day-to-day operations of the airline as the staff remain dedicated to their duties.
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