Ololade Adeyanju/
The United States government today said it would not be making any more public comments regarding the indictment of Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, for bank fraud and money laundering.
This was contained in a response to a mail sent by NewsmakersNG to the United States authorities, seeking further clarification on the indictment.
The US Department of Justice, through the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, had on Friday made public the indictment of Onyema and the airline’s head of finance and administration, Ejiroghene Eghagha, for over $20 million bank fraud and money laundering.
Eghagha was additionally accused of aggravated identity theft.
According to the charges, Onyema used several companies he set up in the US to launder funds and commit bank fraud through the issuance of counterfeit letters of credit.
The mail by NewsmakersNG requested specifically for information about the date the two suspects would be charged to court and also sought to know if the US would be seeking their extradition if they fail to show up for their trial.
In a response signed by its Public Affairs Officer, Bob Page, the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia, simply wrote: “My apologies for the delayed response. We will decline further comment at this time. Thank you.”
A US-based attorney, Mr Solomon Abah, had however told NewsmakersNG yesterday in an interview that the United States authorities would most likely seek the extradition of Onyema and his co-accused if they refused to attend their trial.
Asked what will happen if the indicted persons fail to show up for their trial, Abah, who is Director of Legal Services at the Virginia Department of Social Services, said the US government would either seek their extradition or put out an international alert for their arrest anytime they travel outside Nigeria.
“They can seek to extradite him. A Nigerian court will have to enter an extradition order and he can be extradited to stand trial. If Nigerian courts refuse to extradite him, his name might be entered in the Interpol system. Anytime he travels to a country with an extradition treaty with the US, he will be arrested and brought to the US,” Abah said.
Abah added that the indicted persons’ assets in the US may also be frozen.
Already, the US authorities have reportedly frozen about $14.2 million in bank accounts linked to companies registered by Onyema.
Court documents published by PREMIUM TIMES show that some of the companies’ bank accounts in the U.S. and Canada had been frozen with their substantial balances as part of the investigation.
The documents showed that $4,017,852.51 was seized from JP Morgan Chase Bank account number ending in 5512 held in the name of Springfield Aviation Company, LLC.
Another $4,593,842.05 held in Bank of Montreal with an account number ending 7523 in the name of Springfield Aviation Inc. was also seized.
The American government also traced and seized $5,634,842.04 held in Bank of Montreal with an account number ending in 515 in the name of Bluestream Aero Services, Inc.
American law enforcement authorities indicated in the charge that efforts had commenced towards securing final forfeitures of the funds.
Both suspects have strongly deny the allegations and said they looked forward to proving their innocence in court.
In a statement on Saturday, Onyema said: “As the press statement clearly stated, these are indictment that only contains charges.
“I am innocent of all charges and the US government will find no dirt on me because I have never conducted business with any illegalities.
“Be rest assured that I also have my lawyers on this and these mere allegations will be refuted. I never laundered money in my life, neither have I committed bank fraud anywhere in the world. Every Kobo I transferred to the US for aircraft purchase went through the Central Bank of Nigeria LC regime and all were used for the same purpose.
“The American companies that received the funds are still in business. I never took a penny from any US bank or Nigerian bank. I am willing to defend my innocence in the US courts.”
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