UK aircraft parts company director pleads guilty to fraudulent trading

By Sam Tobin

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The director of a London-based airline parts company on Monday pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading, two years after planes were briefly grounded worldwide over safety fears linked to his company.

Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, 37, admitted operating AOG Technics for a fraudulent purpose by "falsifying documentation relating to the origin, provenance, status and/or condition of aircraft parts" between January 2019 and December 2023.

He entered his plea at London's Southwark Crown Court, having been charged in May after regulators in 2023 issued safety warnings to airlines who had bought or installed parts from AOG.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office said AOG Technics had defrauded customers including airlines, maintenance providers and parts suppliers relating to CFM56 engine parts. CFM56 engines power some Airbus AIR.PA and Boeing BA.N jets.

"This significant and audacious fraud threatened trust in the aviation industry and risked public safety on a global scale," said SFO director of operations Emma Luxton in a statement.

The maximum sentence for fraudulent trading is 10 years' imprisonment. Zamora Yrala will be sentenced in February. His lawyers declined to comment.

2023 DISCOVERY PROMPTED WORLDWIDE HUNT

Zamora Yrala and AOG Technics were sued at London's High Court by jet engine maker CFM International and its co-owners GE Aerospace GE.N and Safran SAF.PA in 2023, shortly after European regulators began investigating reports that parts without valid certificates had been found inside CFM56 engines.

CFM said in court filings that there was "compelling documentary evidence that thousands of jet engine parts have been sold by (AOG) to airlines operating commercial aircraft".

It subsequently launched a worldwide hunt for parts with suspected false documentation from AOG and fears surrounding potentially false paperwork prompted calls for extra regulation.

Yrala's guilty plea came as Reuters reported on Monday that Airbus has discovered an industrial quality issue affecting fuselage panels of several dozen A320-family aircraft.

The latest issue with A320 jets followed the discovery of a space-related computer bug , with a partial recall halting hundreds of flights.