What Akufo-Addo told Al Jazeera about notorious gold smuggler

Doha-based international news channel, Al Jazeera have revealed that president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo responded to their request for information in respect of an allegation made against him by a notorious gold smuggler.

The self-acclaimed smuggler Canadian Alistair Mathias is on record as saying Akufo-Addo was his friend and lawyer whiles speaking to undercover agents in a four-part documentary on Zimbabwe known as ‘Gold Mafia.’

At the tail end of the fourth episode of Gold Mafia titled ‘Have the King With You,’ a number of the accused persons including Alistair denied all the things they had said on tape and which had been recorded by undercover agents.

The part specific to Ghana read: “Mr Mathias denied ever being awarded any tender by the Ghanaian government or entering any government contracts in any African country.

“President Akufo-Addo of Ghana told us that he had no recollection of acting as a lawyer for Alistair Mathias or his company,” a text-on-screen by Al Jazeera read.

'Akufo-Addo has not been in private practice since 2000' - Lawyer dispels links to notorious gold smuggler

Kow Essuman, lawyer to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has revealed that the president hasn't been in private practice in the past 23 years.

Essuman was responding to allegations by Alistair Mathias, a Canadian gold smuggler, that the president is his friend and lawyer.

In a tweet shared on Sunday, April 16, 2023, Kow Essuman affirmed that the president's law firm has also not in any way represented Alistair Mathias as he claimed in the Al Jazeera investigative film.

“The President has not been in private practice since 2000, neither has the President nor his law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co, acted as a lawyer for this Alistair Mathias or Guldrest.

“The President does not know this Mathias or Guldrest. Ignore the spurious allegations,” the tweet he shared read.

What Alistair Mathias said about Akufo-Addo:

Alistair Mathias, who smuggles $40 million worth of gold from Ghana every month, disclosed the kind of close relationship he has with Ghana’s president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Alistair Mathias, who is a gold trader with expertise in designing money laundering schemes for Africans, said that his work has given him access to every president or head of state on the continent.

Speaking in the final episode of the undercover investigations of gold smuggling in Africa by the Investigative Unit of Al Jazeera, Alistair Mathis, who is one of the main characters in the video, boasted about his relationship with the Ghanaian president.

He (described as a financial architect) told the undercover reporters, who had posed as Chinese criminals seeking to launder dirty money from Africa, that his relationship with Akufo-Addo is a close one.

He also claims that the Ghanaian president is his lawyer.

“There’s no head of state or president that either of us can’t get to on this continent. Next door in Swaziland, the king is a close friend of mine. Zambia’s president is a close friend of my friend. DRC Congo, the president has invited me several times to come and build a refinery.

“Ghana’s president is a good friend of mine. In fact, he was my lawyer. Cyril Ramaphosa here; I know him. I know his kids,” he bragged.

View the tweet plus a video of the allegations against Akufo-Addo in the video below:

The President has not been in private practice since 2000, neither has the President nor his law firm, Akufo-Addo, Prempeh and Co, acted as lawyer for this Alistair Mathias or Guldrest. The President does not know this Mathias or Guldrest. Ignore the spurious allegations.
— Kow Essuman (@kaessuman) April 16, 2023