The British media led by Daily Mail on Saturday linked the visit of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to Nigeria to an alleged $20million money laundering case against the Chairman and founder of Air Peace, whom the newspaper labelled as a “fugitive.”
According to the British media report, the Prince and his wife who are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were welcomed to Nigeria by Onyema “a fugitive who has been federally indicted in the United States for allegedly orchestrating a $20million money laundering and bank fraud scheme.”
The Daily Mail report came days after another British Media, the Mirror, reported that the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge, William was reportedly in rage over his brother, Prince Harry’s visit to Nigeria with Meghan Markle.
The British newspaper had claimed that Prince William was determined to stop Harry and Meghan’s royal tour as one royal expert was said to believe that Prince Harry and Meghan’s recent trip to Nigeria angered the Prince of Wales.
The Mirror reported that a royal expert revealed that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had left King Charles and Prince William “absolutely furious” with their Nigerian tour.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had visited Nigeria over the weekend to promote the Invictus Games.
SaharaReporters had on May 10 reported that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle arrived in Nigeria for an unofficial tour that lasted three days.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Nigeria last Friday and were received by government officials at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, from where they were taken out of a side door.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail singled out Onyema in its exclusive report on the incident on Saturday.
Last Friday, the couple visited a school, met with Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Chris Musa, and saw some injured service members at a military hospital.
DailyMail.com on Saturday exclusively learned that Onyema, the 59-year-old businessman was a wanted man in the United States, facing multiple charges linked to millions of dollars’ worth of alleged fraud set down in a federal indictment filed in November 2019.
The indictment, obtained by DailyMail.com, accuses Onyema of allegedly “using his status as a prominent business leader and airline executive to launder more than $20million from Nigeria through US bank accounts.”
There is no suggestion that either Harry or Meghan were aware of Onyema’s history before they met him.
DailyMail.com said it also understands that the couple had planned to use a different airline but plans were changed at the last minute.
The charges were filed by former US Attorney Byung J ‘BJay’ Pak who has since left office. The case is now being pursued by US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Ryan Buchanan who took over the role in 2022.
Speaking at the time of filing Pak said of the man who gladhanded the Sussex’s during their ‘private’ tour of his country, ‘Onyema allegedly leveraged his status as a prominent business leader and airline executive while using falsified documents to commit fraud.’
Robert Murphy, the agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta field division added, “Allan Onyema’s status as a wealthy businessman turned out to be a fraud. He corrupted the US banking system, but his trail of deceit and trickery came to a skidding halt.”
The indictment goes on to allege that Onyema set up various ‘innocent sounding multi-million-dollar asset purchases which were nothing more than alleged fronts for his scam’.
It states that Onyema is the founder and chairman of several organizations across Nigeria, including the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony, International Center for Non-Violence and Peace Development and All-Time Peace Media Communications Limited.
Between 2010 and 2018 over $44.9million was allegedly transferred Onyema’s Atlanta-based accounts from foreign sources.
Meanwhile in November 2019, the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, refuted the charge of money laundering and bank fraud levelled against him by the US Justice Department in Atlanta, Georgia.
The US Justice Department, Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia had alleged that Onyema and his chief of administration and finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha illegally moved more than $20 million through American bank accounts using false documents to procure airplanes.
Reacting to the allegations, Onyema’s counsel, A.0. Alegeh had said the allegations against his client were false and unfounded.
“On behalf of Allen Onyema, we hereby state that he strongly denies and will vigorously defend himself against the allegations made against him by the US Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia in relation to purchase of Aircraft, Aircraft spares and Aircraft maintenance.
“None of the allegations involve any third party funds but relate to his funds utilized in the Airline business. There is no allegation that any Bank (in the United States, Nigeria or elsewhere), Company or individual suffered any financial or any loss whatsoever.”