UK law enforcement personnel have secured the conviction of a company director charged with fraud over the distribution of components for powerplants including the CFM International CFM56.
The Serious Fraud office says the UK-based company, AOG Technics, sold the engine parts with forged documentation.
AOG Technics director Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala pleaded guilty, ahead of trial, to operating the company for a fraudulent purpose. Sentencing will be carried out in February next year.
The company falsified origin and status documentation from 2019-23, a situation which led both CFM and its partner GE Aerospace to carry out extensive checks to identify dozens of affected engines.
AOG Technics’ customers included airlines, maintenance repair firms, and engine parts suppliers. The hunt for unapproved parts resulted in operational disruption.
“This significant and audacious fraud threatened trust in the aviation industry and risked public safety on a global scale,” says Serious Fraud Office director of operations Emma Luxton. The office conducted a joint investigation with Portuguese authorities, and states that a related Portuguese inquiry is continuing.
