Legal Practitioner calls on Akufo-Addo to retract claims made in Al Jazeera documentary

Private legal practitioner Kwame Jantuah has suggested that Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo should have sent a letter to both Al Jazeera Network and Alistair Mathias simultaneously, demanding they retract and apologize for a documentary in which it was claimed that the President had acted as a lawyer for Mathias, a Canadian gold smuggler and money launderer, and had benefited from a $100 million infrastructure contract awarded to Mathias. Jantuah made these remarks during an interview on the Big Issue on TV3 on May 5th with host Roland Walker.

Jantuah believes that it was Mathias who made the defamatory claims, and he used Al Jazeera as a tool for the broadcast. He stated, “What he said in the broadcast that the President sees it as malicious, sees it as defamatory so why didn’t  go for him?” Jantuah suggested that the President should consider suing Alistair Mathias and Al Jazeera at the International Court of Justice since Al Jazeera has refused to retract and apologize for the documentary.

In response to a letter written by the President, demanding an apology and retraction for the documentary, Al Jazeera Network has said that it has responded to the letter, correcting some parts of its content and clarifying various points. Prior to the publication of Gold Mafia, Al Jazeera had written to the President outlining the claims made by Alistair Mathias. The President’s response appears near the end of the documentary.

Portions of the letter to Al Jazeera dated April 25th, 2023, stated, “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 benefited unlawfully from an alleged $100 million state infrastructure contract purportedly awarded to Mr Mathias.” The letter also demanded that Al Jazeera act on the request within seven days from the date of receipt.

In the final episode of Al Jazeera’s undercover investigation into Mathias’ gold smuggling and money-laundering activities across Africa, Mathias boasted about his relationships with various presidents on the continent, including President Akufo-Addo, whom he described as a good friend and alleged was his lawyer. The President’s lawyer Kow Essuman refuted the allegations, stating in a tweet on April 16th, 2023, that the President had not been in private practice since 2000, and neither had the President nor his law firm acted as a lawyer for Alistair Mathias or Guldrest. Essuman added, “The President does not know this Mathias or Guldrest. Ignore the spurious allegations.”

Mathias is a gold trader with expertise in designing money laundering schemes, a skill that he claims has given him access to heads of state across the continent. Al Jazeera’s investigative team caught up with Mathias, posing as Chinese criminals seeking to launder money from Africa, and Mathias spilled out his modus operandi. The so-called financial architect also boasted about his alleged relationships with Presidents of some countries and the king of Swaziland.