Al Jazeera International has stated that it will not apologize to President Akufo-Addo for its recent investigative documentary, “Gold Mafia.”
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Al Jazeera stated that it owes no apologies to the president or his administration because it did not allege the issues made in the Jubilee House letter requesting a retraction and apology.
On Thursday, May 4, the Doha-based corporation responded to JoyNews’ Kwaku Asante’s email asking a copy of its response to the presidency on the topic.
“We have responded to the letter from the president’s office, correcting some parts of its content and clarifying various points.
“Since the documentary did not actually allege what the president’s Office has suggested it did, we will not be apologising or removing it from publication,” excerpts of the Al Jazeera response said.
It did not, however, release copies of its answer to the presidency, citing confidentiality concerns.
“Our reply to the president’s office was by way of a confidential letter,” the reply concluded.
In an April 25 letter, the Jubilee House sought an unequivocal apologies from Al Jazeera for their portrayal of President Akufo-Addo in its damaging documentary.
“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,” said the letter signed by Secretary to the President, Nana Bediatuo Asante.
However, Al Jazeera stated that it has corrected and clarified some of the contents of the Jubilee House letter.
How Ghana Appeared in Al Jazeera’s ‘Gold Mafia’ Documentary
Earlier this month, Ghana was mentioned in a damning investigative documentary about some of Zimbabwe’s gold smuggling and money laundering syndicates.
In the last episode, undercover journalists dressed as Chinese gangsters meet with one of the key players, Alistair Mathias, to help launder their filthy money.
Mr Alistair, described as a Financial Architect in the article, assured the reporters masquerading as criminals that he had a track record of successfully coordinating such syndicates.
Essentially, he is claimed to have played a role in developing money laundering strategies for numerous corrupt African politicians.
Alistair mentioned Ghana as one of the countries where he carried out similar scams, and he claims to be 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 went on to say that he was once the greatest smuggler in Ghana, bringing in $40 million to $60 million in gold per month from the West African country.
During the documentary, Alistair outlined his strategy to the undercover journalists, implying that the most important credential of his operations in Africa stems from the trust that some dubious politicians have in him to keep their siphoned resources safe.
He stated that the politicians involved do not maintain assets in their own names, but instead use proxies.
Using government infrastructure as an example, he stated that he is able to accept large contracts on behalf of Ghanaian politicians, inflate the cost, and then split the profits 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 situation, Alistair and the aforementioned politician agree to split the remaining $20 million from the inflated $100 million.
“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.”
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo claims he has no memory of acting as a lawyer for Alistair Mathias or his firm.
Mr Mathias has also denied ever been given a tender or engaged into any government contracts in any African country.