The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is demanding an unqualified apology from Al Jazeera over the airing of its documentary Gold Mafia, which scandalizes his reputation.
Akufo-Addo says how the damning documentary depicts him is “inaccurate” and “unfair”.
He has, therefore, given the international media organization seven days to retract and apologize.
A letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante on April 25, 2023, stated that; “I am instructed by the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to demand formally that Al Jazeera Media Network (Al Jazeera”) retract immediately and apologize for airing an inaccurate and unfair documentary that contained spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against the President and the Government of Ghana.”
According to the statement, the Gold Mafia documentary failed to provide empirical evidence to back the allegations Alistair Mathias, the alleged launderer leveled against President Akufo-Addo.
“The documentary in question made baseless claims that the President acted as a lawyer for one Mr. Alistair Mathias and implied that the President personally benefitted unlawfully from an alleged $100m state infrastructure contract purportedly awarded to Mr. Mathias. In his letter dated 11th April, 2023, responding to Al Jazeera’s letter of 2nd April, 2023, which was received on April, 2023, containing these vague and defamatory allegations, the Legal Counsel to the President, Mr. Kow Abaka Essuman, acting on the instructions of the President, informed Al Jazeera that the President had not been in private practice since the year 2000 and that the President had no recollection of acting as a lawyer, either personally or through his law firm, Messrs. Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co, for a Mr. Alistair Mathias or his company, Guldrest Resources.”
“In those circumstances, further and better particulars were demanded from Al Jazeera to respond adequately to the allegations made in Al Jazeera’s letter. Al Jazeera was thus requested to provide information on the period for which the President allegedly provided legal representation to Mr. Alistair Mathias or his company, Guldrest Resources. Furthermore, Al Jazeera was requested to provide details of the “USD 100 million tender for state infrastructure”, allegedly given to Mr. Mathias, which he outsourced and kept a percentage in offshore accounts, as stated in the letter as well as information on how the President personally benefited unlawfully from the alleged “USD 100 million tender for state infrastructure.”
Al Jazeera refused or failed to provide these details as requested and went ahead with the broadcast of the documentary. At the end of the documentary, a terse text was shown, contradicting the content of the documentary. Additionally, the subject of the documentary, Mr. Alistair Mathias, denied what he said in the documentary to Al Jazeera’s investigative journalist. In light of these blatant denials by Mr. Alistair Mathias and the response from Mr. Essuman, those parts of the documentary ought not to have been included because those statements were not true,” the statement said.
An embattled gold merchant in Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia’ documentary alleges that President Akufo-Addo is his friend and lawyer.
Gold Mafia, Al Jazeera’s latest investigation, has found a gang of criminals responsible for gold smuggling and money laundering worth billions of dollars in Southern Africa.
Those participating in this gold smuggling organization, on the other hand, have business networks that span the continent and operate in many other countries, including Ghana.
Undercover journalists posed as Chinese criminals met Alistair Mathias, who was described by investigative reporters as a financial architect who creates money laundering plans for corrupt politicians.
While attempting to reach an agreement with undercover reporters, he said that Ghana’s President Akufo-Addo is his close friend and confidante.
