By Chukwudi Iwuchukwu
Many people woke up on Sunday morning to the news that Allen Onyema, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Sir Peace Airline, the Nigerian poster in the aviation business is in trouble with the US authorities, and the US authorities are looking for him and Air Peace’s Chief Finance Officer, Ejiroghene Eghagha.
What are the issues, and what are the issues that Allen Onyema allegedly did to warrant this humiliation and scrutiny that he is currently facing?
For easy understanding, I will break it down into three parts.
Part 1
Between 2010 and 2018, Onyema traveled frequently to Atlanta, where he opened several personal and business bank accounts. More than $44.9 million was allegedly transferred into his Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources. The money was transferred from NGO accounts controlled by Allen Onyema.
By the time Allen started transferring the money in 2010, there was no Air Peace; Air Peace was founded in 2014.
So between 2010 and 2014, Allen Onyema transferred millions of dollars into his US account without any substantial business to back this income up. But that is not the issue that got him into trouble with the US authorities.
Part 2
Air Peace was already in existence at this time.
As a smart businessman, Allen wanted to make quick money from foreign exchange transactions, so this is what he did. He got dollars from the Central Bank Nigeria(CBN) at the official rate after paying the Naira worth of the dollar he needed, which was $20 million at that time. The reason why he requested the $20 million was to buy five Boeing aircraft from the manufacturers in the US.
The money was released to him by CBN into his Fidelity bank account, and it was instantly moved to the US.
He wanted to buy the aircraft from a company called Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a business registered in Georgia.
However, the supporting documents were allegedly fake: Springfield Aviation Company LLC was owned by Allen Onyema and managed on his behalf by a person with no connection to the aviation business, and Springfield Aviation never owned the aircraft they purported to sell to Air Peace.
Immediately Springfield Aviation Company LLC, owned by Allen Onyema, got the money; it was sent to his US bank controlled by Allen Onyema, who laundered the money and sent the money back to Nigeria.
2016 was a crazy year in Nigeria; it was the year that the dollar was scarce and was also sold higher in the black market.
So businessmen like Allen Onyema that had access collected dollars from CBN at the official rate only to repatriate the money back to Nigeria and then resell at the black market rate, which was double of the money spent to buy the dollar. So you buy a dollar at $200 to $ and then resell it at $400 to $1 without breaking a sweat.
A very cool business at that time that was highly lucrative, which highly connected businessmen at that time did under Buhari only that Allen Onyema was unlucky to be the scapegoat.
Even though Allen Onyema was trying to be street smart by doing what he did, moving money around like that and using it for another purpose different from the reason CBN gave it to you is called money laundering in the US and a very big offence in that country.
So in a nutshell, Allen Onyema and his staff committed the offence of money laundering, and this case has been ongoing since 2019.
Seeing that the US government is looking for him and his bank account in the US, which has millions of dollars, was frozen, Allen and his staff committed another offence called obstruction of justice, which is what we would discuss in Part 3.
Part 3
But in a desperate attempt to keep the funds and outsmart the U.S. law enforcement, Mr. Onyema connived with Mrs. Eghagha to create a fraudulent contract, “Aircraft Sales and Management Agreement between Springfield Aviation and Air Peace,” in May 2019. They backdated the contract to 2016 to make it seem like the contract existed before the first aircraft purchase.
In May 2019, upon discovering that he was under investigation in the Northern District of Georgia for bank fraud, Onyema and Eghagha allegedly directed the Springfield Aviation manager to sign a key business contract but also specifically told her not to date the document.
In October 2019, Onyema allegedly caused his attorneys to present that same contract, now falsely dated as being signed on May 5, 2016 (prior to the bank fraud that began in 2016), to the government in an effort to stop the investigation and unfreeze his bank accounts.
Mr. Onyema and his staff, Mrs. Eghagha, then gave the fraudulent contract to their lawyer, who, in turn, submitted it to the U.S. Attorney’s office, where he explained that his client’s actions were not criminal to warrant a forfeiture of assets.
The act of falsifying documents to prevent forfeiture of the seized funds, according to the grand jury, was deemed a conspiracy to obstruct justice. In essence, Allen and his staff presented a fake document to the US government in order to cover their tracks, which is another entirely new offence.
Investigators found that Mrs. Eghagha sent a mail to Ms. Mayfield to sign the management agreement with a strict instruction stating “do not date.”
“Kindly help, print, and sign the attached document,” Mrs. Eghagha wrote in the mail on May 16, 2019, coping with Mr. Onyema. “Do not date, please.”
“Once you have signed, kindly scan back to me. Let me know via WhatsApp if you have any questions,” she added in the mail.
Ms. Mayfield did as instructed and resent the scanned contract to Mrs. Eghagha on May 17, 2019.
Mr. Onyema “caused his attorney J.H. to send” the fraudulent contract to the U.S. Attorney’s office “with the hopes of resolving the government’s concern and bringing the matter to a close.” The Air Peace CEO had intended for the contract to free him of any pending forfeiture proceeding.
The phrase “caused his attorney J.H.” suggests that Mr. Onyema’s lawyer may have testified against his client that he was not complicit in submitting forged documents to free his client’s assets.
It is illegal for a lawyer and his client to knowingly commit fraud, as doing so would nullify attorney-client privilege, thereby activating the crime fraud exception.
The fresh set of charges of obstructing justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice has resurrected what would have otherwise been a cold case of money-laundering against the Air Peace boss.
So in a nutshell, Allen Onyema’s alleged offences are categorized into 2
1) Money laundry
2) Falsifying documents in order to obstruct justice
That Allen Onyema was a victim of this schoolboy error as a businessman is simply because Air Peace did not have a corporate structure and a robust board of directors in place before the first case of the Money Laundry case happened in 2016.
Because if they do, the board won’t have authorized Allen Onyema to engage in money laundering in order to make a quick profit. No board worry; it’s salt would allow the CEO to engage in that kind of unethical transaction.
They could not have authorized him to present false documents in 2019 after he was caught by the US authorities with his hands in the jar. Apparently, Allen Onyema is the Alpha and Omega of Air Peace, and he is paying the price for this in a big way.
Put proper structure in place. Incorporate sound corporate governance for your business once your revenue crosses $1 million annually.
It is for a reason, and one of them is to avoid the humiliation of seeing your pictures all over the internet as Allen Onyema is currently going through.
Despite owning an airline that flies international routes, Mr. Onyema cannot risk traveling to the U.S. and likely other nations deemed America’s allies for fear of being arrested and extradited, as was the case with Internet fraudsters Hushpuppi and Woodberry.
Air Peace is the poster boy of the Nigerian airline business, so this embarrassing story is very bad, and the optics are not good on Air Peace no matter the lens you look at it.
Onyema is innocent -Air Peace
Air Peace has however reaffirmed the innocence of its Chairman and CEO, Dr. Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, and Chief of Finance and Administration, Mrs. Ejiro Eghagha, following the expansion of legal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The management of the airline said they are confident that both executives will be exonerated, emphasizing that these are still mere allegations with the case ongoing in court.
This came as the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia filed a superseding indictment against Air Peace CEO Allen Onyema and Ejiroghene Eghagha, accusing them of submitting false documents in an effort to obstruct an ongoing federal investigation into their alleged financial crimes, adding new charges to the 2019 case that originally accused Onyema of money laundering involving more than $20 million.
Ryan Buchanan of the US attorney’s office said, “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,”
However, in a statement released on Sunday addressing public concerns, Air Peace stressed that both Dr. Onyema and Mrs. Eghagha remain innocent until proven otherwise, saying that the airline’s legal team is fully engaged and working relentlessly to ensure that justice prevails.
The statement read, “These charges leveled against our post-holders are part of an extended legal process stemming from earlier accusations of financial misdeeds that date back several years.
While the charges have been expanded, it is essential to emphasize that both Dr. Onyema and Mrs. Eghagha remain innocent and these are mere allegations, and the case is still in court. Our legal team is fully engaged with the matter and is working tirelessly to ensure that justice prevails. We remain confident that, through due process, the truth will be revealed, and our CEO and co-defendant will be exonerated.”
The company then reiterated that Dr. Onyema and his legal representatives have consistently cooperated with the relevant authorities throughout the legal process.
Air Peace then assured the public that despite the expanded charges, its daily operations, safety standards, and commitment to quality service remain unaffected.
“We want to reassure the public that these legal proceedings will not impact the safety, reliability, or day-to-day operations of Air Peace. The dedication and focus of our staff remain steadfast as we continue to provide you with the best aviation experience in Nigeria and beyond,” the statement added.
The airline expressed gratitude to its customers for their continued trust and support during this period, reassuring them of its unwavering dedication to maintaining the highest standards in aviation.
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