Founded in 2013 and growing to carrying millions of travelers between different destinations in Africa and the Middle East every year, Air Peace is a well-established name as a major non-government-owned airline on the African continent.
But the airline’s recent efforts to carve out brand recognition in other parts of the world (including the disputed claim that it is the “largest private airline in Africa”) are now likely to go right back to square one. On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) accused Air Peace founder and CEO Allen Onyema of obstruction of justice by submitting false documents in connection to an earlier investigation into money fraud and laundering.
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Onyema’s business partner and Air Peace’s Chief of Administration And Finance Ejiroghene Eghagha was also charged for participating in the obstruction.
‘Allegedly using his airline company as a cover to commit fraud’
“After allegedly using his airline company as a cover to commit fraud on the United States’ banking system, Onyema, along with his co-defendant, allegedly committed additional crimes of fraud in a failed attempt to derail the government’s investigation of his conduct,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan K. Buchanan said in a statement that also added that the new charges make it “possible for the defendants to be held accountable for their aggravated conduct of attempting to impede a federal investigation.”
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Dating back to the spring of 2016, the federal investigation alleged that Onyema and Enghaga initially used letters of credit to get different banks around the world to transfer $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts that were then used to purchase five Boeing 737 (BA) planes claimed to go for Air Peace’s business operations.
“The documents purported to show that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a business registered in Georgia,” reads the document from the United States Attorney’s Office. “However, the supporting documents were allegedly fake – Springfield Aviation Company LLC was owned by Onyema and managed on his behalf by a person with no connection to the aviation business, and Springfield Aviation never owned the aircraft.”
All of this was reportedly taking place between 2010 and 2018 and resulted in over $44.9 million being transferred into Atlanta-based bank accounts controled by Onyema.
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Air Peace issues statement saying it is ‘aware of the latest legal developments’
In 2019, Onyema and Eghagha were each charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit credit application fraud, credit application fraud. Onyema was charged with 27 counts of money laundering, while Eghagha was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft.
On several websites tracking airlines’ fleet Air Peace is registered as having 27 aircraft including several Boeing 737s but also an Airbus A350 (EADSF) and an Embraer 145 and 195 (ERJ) .
Upon the DOJ’s announcement of the fresh charges, Air Peace issued a statement saying it is “aware of the latest legal developments involving our Chairman and CEO, Dr. Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, and our Chief of Administration and Finance, Mrs. Ejiro Eghagha” and that “these allegations relate to legal proceedings from several years ago.” No other comment was made.
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