Al Jazeera Network has responded to a letter from Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who demanded an apology and retraction for a documentary claiming that Akufo-Addo acted as a lawyer for a Canadian gold smuggler and money launderer, Alistair Mathias, and benefitted from a $100m infrastructure contract awarded to Mathias.
Al Jazeera corrected some parts of the letter's content and clarified various points in their response. The President's lawyer, Kow Essuman, had previously denied any links between Akufo-Addo and Mathias.
In the final episode of Al Jazeera's investigation into Mathias's activities, he claimed to have relationships with various African presidents, including Akufo-Addo, who he described as a good friend and alleged was his lawyer.
Mathias is a gold trader with expertise in designing money laundering schemes, which he claims has given him access to heads of states across the continent. Al Jazeera's investigative team caught up with him, posing as Chinese criminals seeking to launder money from Africa, and he spilled out his modus operandi. He also boasted about his alleged relationships with presidents of some countries and the king of Swaziland.
Some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) latched on to the claims made in the documentary and raised various accusations against the President. However, the President's legal counsel revealed that Akufo-Addo had not been in private practice as a lawyer since 2000, and his legal chambers had not acted as lawyers to Mathias or any of his associates.
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