(Bloomberg) -- Allen Onyema, the Nigerian businessman who owns the country’s largest airline, maintained his innocence after being indicted by US authorities on charges of obstructing justice.
Onyema allegedly submitted false documents to the US government in a bid to end an earlier investigation that resulted in charges of bank fraud and money laundering, according to the US Department of Justice, which issued a warrant for his arrest last week. The company’s chief of administration and finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, was also charged for participating in the scheme.
The airline said that Onyema and his legal team have consistently cooperated with US authorities, in a statement posted on its official X handle late Sunday. “We remain confident that, through due process, the truth will be revealed, and our CEO and co-defendant will be exonerated,” the airline said. Onyema did not respond to a request for comment by email.
The pair were first indicted in 2019 for allegedly moving more than $20 million from Nigeria through US bank accounts using false documents to show Air Peace was purchasing Boeing 737 airplanes. He then allegedly laundered over $16 million of the proceeds by transferring it to other accounts, the Department of Justice said. The latest indictment was issued on October 8.
“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,” said US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan in a statement on Oct. 11.
The case highlights the ongoing fallout from Nigeria’s longstanding and controversial currency policy, which the current government axed last year.
Under the policy, Nigeria’s central bank pegged the naira at an artificially high level against the dollar for years, resulting in a parallel market where the dollar was freely traded. The gap allowed individuals with access to the central bank to make huge profits by obtaining dollars at the official rate, only to pass them back into the country at the unofficial rate.
The US wants Onyema to forfeit at least $14 million held in three different bank accounts in the name of Springfield Aviation Company LLC, the firm allegedly used to perpetuate the fraud, according to the new indictment.
Onyema and Eghagha denied all the charges when they were raised five years ago in a statement prepared by their lawyers, A.O. Alegeh & Co. and emailed to Bloomberg in 2019.
“The allegations are unfounded and strange,” according to the statement.
Founded in 2013, Air Peace operates the largest fleet of aircrafts in Africa’s most populous nation. Onyema’s airline offers flights on numerous domestic routes in Nigeria as well as trips to other West African destinations and London.
--With assistance from William Clowes.
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