Revealed: Meghan and Prince Harry were flown around Nigeria for free with ‘top-tier treatment’ by airline whose chairman is a fugitive wanted in the US over $20M money laundering operation
- Dr. Allen Onyema, founder of Nigerian airline Air Peace, provided the free flights
- He is facing multiple charges linked to millions of dollars worth of alleged fraud
DAILY MAIL
Meghan and Prince Harry were flown around Nigeria for free by an airline whose chairman is a fugitive wanted in the US.
Dr. Allen Onyema, founder of Nigerian airline Air Peace, provided the Sussex’s with free flights during their three day tour of Nigeria to celebrate 10 years of Harry’s Invictus Games.
However DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that he is also a wanted man in the US, facing multiple charges linked to millions of dollars worth of alleged fraud set down in a federal indictment filed in November 2019.
Stanley Olisa at Air Peace said the Sussexes were given the ‘complimentary flights’ by the CEO, along with ‘everything they wanted’ becasue ‘they are royals‘.
The indictment 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.
Mr Olisa told the Mirror: ‘The planes were chartered. It was just the royals and their entourage. They were not flying with other passengers. We understand that they are royals so we gave them top-tier treatment on board. They were given everything they wanted. It was an exclusive experience. And we flew them back to Abuja in the evening. Everything was complimentary.’
He added: ‘The chairman of Air Peace gave Prince Harry and his wonderful wife Meghan free flights to Lagos and back as part of his contribution to the successful hosting of the couple.’
In total the couple and their entourage flew 664 miles on a 120 seat plane creating around 12 tonnes of carbon emissions.
The average annual carbon footprint for one person per year is about four tonnes.
This whooping figure has left some angry at the Sussex’s for being hypocritical, as it 2019, while still working royals, the pair launched the Travalyst initiative.
He spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.
Like his father King Charles, who has spoken out for more than 50 years on issues such as sustainability and climate change, Harry has also been a vocal champion of environmental causes.
During the visit the couple visited a local charity and met with military leaders, injured soldiers and school children, all of whom welcomed them smiles and enthusiasm.
Robert Murphy, the agent in charge of the DEA Atlanta field division said: ‘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.
Air Peace’s Chief of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, has also been charged along with Onyema.
Both men were charged on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, three counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit credit application fraud and three counts of credit application fraud. However it is understood that they deny the claims.
