Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Addo, has demanded that Al Jazeera apologises and retracts its documentary series titled ‘Gold Mafia‘ within seven days of receiving a letter from the President’s Secretary, Nana Bediatuo Asante.
The documentary exposed gold smuggling and money laundering in Zimbabwe, linking cartels, top government officials and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
The letter accused the documentary of making baseless claims that President Akufo-Addo acted as a lawyer for Mr Alistair Mathias, and implying that the President unlawfully benefitted from an alleged $100 million state infrastructure contract awarded to Mr Mathias.
The documentary also features Mathias and others involved in money laundering, claiming that there is no African president they cannot access. Mathias said:
There is no president that either of us (referring to himself and Ewan Macmillan, one of the main subjects of the investigation), can’t get to on this continent. Ghana’s president is a good friend of mine. In fact, he was my lawyer.
Mathias, who claimed to be the previous largest gold dealer in Ghana, stated that he used to conduct between $40 million to $60 million worth of gold business each month in Ghana. He also mentioned that he secures government contracts throughout Africa, including tenders for road construction, procurement, and supplying of various goods like oil.
Mathias stated that he indirectly took care of politicians in exchange for the freedom to carry out gold trading and other activities.