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General News of Thursday, 24 April 2014

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

SIR SAM JONAH KBE, OSG - AN APOLOGY

On 17 December 2013 we published an article on our website entitled "Sam Jonah targets JM to payback Ibrahim (the "Article") which was originally published by the newspaper in Ghana. The Article falsely claimed that Sir Sam Jonah KBE, OSG was vindictively trying to sabotage the administration of the National Democratic Congress led by President Mahama and bring about the removal of the government. The article also claimed that Sir Sam Jonah was doing so as he wished to maliciously exact vengeance against the President's brother, Mr Ibrahim Mahama. The article additionally claimed that Sir Sam Jonah was an irresponsible father who abandoned his child. We now accept that these serious allegations are entirely untrue and are grossly defamatory of Sir Sam Jonah and should not have been re-published by us. We accept that had we made an effort to verify the accuracy of these claims prior to publication we would have been advised of the utter falsity of the claims, and would not have published them.

We have removed the article from our website and apologise unreservedly to Sir Sam Jonah and his family for the distress and embarrassment caused to him and for the unfounded damage to his good name and reputation.

Sir Sam Jonah is in fact one of Africa's most prominent businessmen and is internationally recognised for his work in the mining and investment industries. Sir Sam Jonah is the former Executive President of AngloGold Ashanti Limited and is currently, amongst other things, the Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital Limited, a nonexecutive director on the board of Vodafone UK, a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Legacy (UK) and serves on the Bank of America Global Advisory Council. Sir Sam Jonah was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degrees by the Camborne School of Mines and the University of Exeter in 1994 and in 2003, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, conferred on Sir Sam Jonah an Honorary Knighthood as Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

We also previously published articles on our website, on 7 September 2011 and 11 September 2011, entitled "Sam Jonah In Big Trouble for Demolishing $1 Million House" and "Sam Jonah is Vicious - Victim Cries Out". The articles wrongly claimed that Sir Sam Jonah had unlawfully demolished a property owned by Lord Doudu-Kumi in order to cause him damage and that he had a reputation for attacking his business rivals. We similarly accept that these allegations are also completely untrue, grossly defamatory and should not have be re-published by us. We apologise for the distress and embarrassment caused to Sir Sam Jonah and his family in respect of these articles also.