By Rasheed Olajide
The US government has added further accusations to the earlier $20 million bank fraud case against Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, as the Nigerian billionaire has evaded trial in an American court for the last five years.
The founder of a significant Nigerian airline, Mr. Onyema, has denied any wrongdoing, but since 2019, he and a co-defendant have been facing bank fraud accusations in Atlanta’s District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. As a result, Mr. Onyema has been sought in the US.
“On 8 October 2024, they were both charged in a superseding indictment alleging an additional count of obstruction of justice and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice,” the US Attorney Office, Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement on Friday.
The office said Mr Onyema is accused of “obstruction of justice for submitting false documents to the government to end an investigation of him that resulted in earlier charges of bank fraud and money laundering.”
Prosecutors claim that in an attempt to halt the investigation into the suspected $20 million bank fraud and unfreeze his bank accounts, he sent fictitious paperwork to US authorities in 2019.
Mr Onyema’s co-defendant in the case is Ejiroghene Eghagha, the airline’s Chief of Administration and Finance, who is accused of involvement in the alleged obstruction conspiracy as well as previous bank fraud allegations.
“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,” the statement quoted US Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.