President Akufo-Addo has not received an apology from the international news organization Al Jazeera for its recent investigative program, “Gold Mafia,” it has been announced.
Al Jazeera claimed that because it did not make the claims made in the letter from Jubilee House requesting a retraction and apology, it owes neither the president nor his office an apology.
The Doha-based business revealed this in a response to JoyNews' Kwaku Asante's email on May 4 asking for a copy of its correspondence with the presidency over the issue.
“We have responded to the letter from the president's office, correcting some of its content and elaborating on a number of points,” the Gold Mafia said in a statement to Al Jazeera.
Excerpts from the Al Jazeera reaction stated, “Since the documentary did not truly imply what the president's office has suggested it did, we will not be apologizing or pulling it from publication.
However, citing confidentiality, it did not distribute copies of its response to the president.
“Our reply to the president's office was by way of a confidential letter,” the response's conclusion read.
In a letter dated April 25, the Jubilee House demanded an unequivocal apology from Al Jazeera for how the president of Ghana, Akufo-Addo, was portrayed in the network's devastating program.
“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 unsupported allegations against the President and the Government of Ghana,” read the letter signed by Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President.
Al Jazeera, however, claimed that it has explained and updated some of the information in the Jubilee House letter.
The “Gold Mafia” Documentary by Al Jazeera
Ghana made an appearance earlier in April in a devastating investigative documentary on some of Zimbabwe's gold-smuggling and money-laundering gangs.
In the last episode, Alistair Mathias, one of the key players, interacts with undercover journalists posing as Chinese gangsters to help launder their dirty money.
Mr. Alistair, who is referred to in the article as a “financial architect, told the reporters masquerading as thieves that he had a history of coordinating such syndicates effectively.
He allegedly played a key role in creating money laundering plans for other dishonest African leaders.
In addition to saying that he is good friends with Ghana's president, whom he also claimed once served as his lawyer, Alistair listed Ghana as one of the nations where he had carried out similar operations.
He informed the undercover reporters, “The President of Ghana is a good friend of mine; in fact, he was my lawyer.”
Mr. Mathias continued by saying that he was once the largest gold smuggler in Ghana, making between $40 million and $60 million a month from the West African nation.
The most significant justification for Alistair's actions in Africa, he suggested to the undercover filmmakers during the program, derives from the confidence some dubious leaders have in him to keep their plundered resources safely tucked away.
He disclosed that in doing this, the politicians concerned rely on proxies rather than maintaining assets in their own names.
He gave the example of government infrastructure as an example of how he might accept large contracts on behalf of Ghanaian politicians, inflate the cost, and then divide the profits later.
“In Ghana, I participate in bids for road building, purchasing, supplying various items, oil, and other things. There, all the politicians are indirectly taken care of since it gives me freedom to perform all of my other activities.
In the documentary, he goes into more detail.
“For instance, the Ghanaian government awarded me the contract with Mathias Holdings. You get the $100 million contract that I subcontract. The government of Ghana pays me $100,000,000. He said to the investigative journalists who were recording the conversation covertly, “I give it to you, and you claim it's $80 million.
In this case, Alistair and the aforementioned politician agree to split the remaining $20 million of the inflated $100 million.
“I'll work out a deal with them where they get 15…” I'll likely receive $5 million, he continued.
“I store everything in Dubai.” They only need to let me know when they need it, and I will send it.
In the meantime, President Akufo-Addo claims he has no knowledge of representing Alistair Mathias or his company as a lawyer.
Additionally, Mr. Mathias has denied ever accepting a government contract in any African nation or receiving a government contract from the government of Ghana.
