Ghana’s Jubilee House is demanding an unqualified apology from international media organisation, Al Jazeera over its depiction of President Akufo-Addo in its damning documentary – Gold Mafia.
Al Jazeera has seven days within which to oblige the seat of government, according to a notice issued by Jubilee House on April 25, 2023.
A letter signed by Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante 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 apologise for airing an inaccurate and unfair documentary that contained spurious and unsubstantiated allegations against the President and the Government of Ghana.”
Earlier this month, Ghana popped up in a damning investigative documentary conducted into some of Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling and money laundering syndicates.
In the concluding episode, undercover journalists posing as Chinese gangsters interact with one of the key parties, Alistair Mathias to help clean their dirty money.
Mr Alistair who is described in the piece as a Financial Architect told the reporters posing as criminals that he had a track record of successfully orchestrating such syndicates.
Essentially, he is said to be instrumental in designing money laundering schemes for many corrupt politicians in Africa.
Alistair named Ghana as one of the countries where he had executed similar schemes adding that he is good friends with its President who he also claims used to be his lawyer.
“Ghana’s President is a good friend of mine, in fact, he was my lawyer,” he told the undercover reporters.
Mr Mathias added that he used to be the biggest smuggler in Ghana at one point, raking out about $40 million to $60 million worth of gold a month from the West African country.
But the Presidency says some “parts of the documentary are malicious, defamatory, and a calculated attempt to tarnish the reputation of the President and Government of Ghana.”
The Jubilee House says it demanded further and better particulars from Al Jazeera on the period for which the President allegedly provided legal representation to Mr. Alistair Mathias or his company, Guldrest Resources.
Per the Jubilee House letter, Al Jazeera “refused or failed to provide these details as requested and went ahead with the broadcast of the documentary.”
During the documentary, Alistair outlined his modus operandi to the undercover journalists suggesting that the most important credential of his operations in Africa comes from the trust that some dubious politicians have in him to keep their siphoned resources safely tucked away.
He revealed that in doing this, the politicians involved do not keep assets in their own names, but rely on proxies.
Citing government infrastructure as an example, he indicated that he is able to take huge contracts on behalf of Ghanaian politicians, inflate the cost and subsequently split the profit afterwards.
“In Ghana, I take tenders, road construction, procurement, supplying different things, oil, this that. There, all the politicians get taken care of, indirectly because it allows me to do all my other stuff freely”:.
He explains further in the documentary;
“For example, Ghana government, Mathias Holdings, I get the contract. I subcontract it to you, $100 million contract. Ghana government pays me $100 million. I give it to you and you say it’s $80 million” he told the investigative reporters who secretly recorded the interaction.
In this scenario, the outstanding $20 million out of the inflated $100 million is shared per an arrangement reached between Alistair and the said politician.
“I’ll have an arrangement with them and they get 15… I’ll probably get 5 million,” he added.
“I keep all of it in Dubai. Whenever they want it, they just tell me and I send it.”
But in the April 25 letter to Al Jazeera, the Presidency says it requested that the media network provides 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.”
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo’s initial response at the end of the Aljazeera screening said he had no recollection of acting as a lawyer for Alistair Mathias or his company.
Mr Mathias has also denied ever being awarded any tender by the Ghanaian government or entering into any government contracts in any African country.
These reactions, per the Jubilee House, presented enough grounds for the media network to have expunged those portions from the exposé.
“In light of these blatant denial and response from Mr Akufo-Addo’s lawyer, 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.”
