Otumfuo will not respond to money laundering story - Mawerehene

Otumfuo’s Mawerehene, Baffour Osei Brentuo Hyiaman V, has said the Asantehene and Manhyia Palace will not reply to the money laundering allegations leveled against the Asante monarch.

He said the Asantehene has never responded to anything of such in the media, and was not ready to respond to the recent allegations.

"For me, I don't even know what stories are going round, so for now, it is for you the press to handle yourselves. You started something and you know where it has gotten to, but Manhyia and Otumfuo will not respond. He has never responded to anything before," he said in an interaction with the media when the Asantehene arrived from his trip to Brazil on Thursday, October 19, 2017.

He continued: "It is a happy occasion that the king has returned to us. Whatever happened, it is for those of us that he left behind to tell him, and if we feel that it deserves any special mentioning, we will tell him and if it doesn't, we will ignore it."

The Asantehene was allegedly linked to a money laundering scandal, but those who made the allegation later apologised.

When the allegation was published in the international and local newspapers, the Asantehene was not in Ghana.

Some aggrieved youth who were not enthused, locked up the offices of the Daily Guide newspaper in Kumasi.

However, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah, said it was pointless for the youth to conduct themselves in that manner.

The youth carried out that action on Wednesday, October 18 in protest against a publication by the newspaper regarding the alleged involvement of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II in a £350,000 money laundering scandal in the UK.

The group threatened not to open the office until the paper retracts the story and renders an unqualified apology to the Asantehene and his subjects.

Speaking on this development in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom on Accra 100.5FM on Thursday, October 19, Mr Osei Mensah said: “This action by the youth was needless. They could have used other ways to protest against the publication without locking the offices of the Daily Guide. You can’t take the laws into your own hands.”

“They may have a point in protesting against that particular publication, but the way and manner they chose to demonstrate their displeasure was needless,” he added.

Meanwhile, the newspaper has said it won’t apologise for the publication.

Speaking to Class News, chief news editor of the Daily Guide, Alhaji A.R. Gomda, said they do not owe anyone an apology.

“Apologise for what?” he quizzed.

“I wonder if they can pinpoint to any act of disrespect to Asanteman or Otumfuo. We only did a story and we were very careful about this. We respect our chieftaincy institutions. Kumasi is one of our key areas so we are very careful about the sensibilities of the people in Asanteman. We are Ghanaians, we respect our chiefs, we wouldn’t do anything which will undermine the integrity of our chieftaincy institution. They should come and pinpoint any aspect of the story which undermines the integrity of Asanteman. They cannot pinpoint. It was just a straight forward story,” Alhaji Gomda stated.