Canadian wins gold case against Ghanaian

A Canadian, Alistair Mathias, who was accused by his Ghanaian business partner of defrauding him in a gold business, has been exonerated by a court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Ghanaian, Henry Osei, filed criminal complaint against Mr. Mathias in the UAE and the case was heard at the Sharjah Appeal Federal Court, claiming that the Canadian misappropriated over $4 million in a form of failing to send the value of gold sent to a company they formed called Guldcrest Resources Company.

It turned out that it was Mr Henry Osei and his company in Ghana – Guldrest Resources Company Limited – that owed Mathias and his company more than $9.2 million.

Whilst Mathias was facing criminal trial in the UAE, his business partners (Osei) had also reported him to the Ghanaian authorities, claiming the same amount of $4,054,024.10; and the Canadian had the ordeal of having to shuttle between Accra and Dubai in an effort to clear his name.

The judgement finally came in the UAE where the court cleared Mathias and ordered Henry Osei’s company to refund an amount of $395,247 to Mathias Holding Company, belonging to the Canadian.

“Regarding the dues the appellant in Guldrest Sharjah Company and its assets, this entails that an agreement shall be concluded to liquidate the company so that its actual assets and asset inventory are calculated, and so that all its dues and obligations are listed through the liquidation procedures, and after the agreement of the parties to the budget prepared 31/3/2014, because the dues of the appellant in the company are 50% of the capital and the net profits amount to $90,793.50,” the court held. It added, “Moreover, it is confirmed that the dues of Mathias Holding Company are an amount of $395,247 payable by Guldrest Sharjah Company.”

In response to another petition filed by Mr Osei with the Ghanaian police, Mr Mathias said he owns a Ghanaian company called M.A. Resources Limited and runs a trading and investment company with focus on gold trading in the Dubai and international markets and due to his exploits, he was introduced to Henry Osei and one Eric Azu as directors of Guldcrest Resources Limited (Ghana).

He said in March 2013, Henry Osei claimed he was going through financial difficulties and he (Osei) asked if they could form a company in UAE, which he initially declined and later accepted through the influence of Eric Azu.

“After a lot of discussions and hesitations, I reluctantly agreed to partner Henry in registering a company in the UAE. On 23rd March, 2013 we started the process of forming the company and were given licence on 24th March, 2013, namely Guldrest Resources FZC,” adding that all the expenses were financed by him alone and he was a director and shareholder of the company.

“Since November 2012, Henry Osei has been accumulating debts with me, but I was lenient with him, given that he was going through hard financial times. During the year 2013 into the first quarter of 2014, the debt kept increasing.

“In a grand scheme to avoid paying my money Henry made a criminal complaint in Ghana” against him, alleging that he stole $4 million and the same complaint in the UAE, and claimed he Mathias was a fugitive and also succeeded in spreading the story to many media outlets.

The Canadian said he had to cross many legal hurdles in both Ghana and the UAE, including the confiscation of his passport and other documents.

“The court case continued to a panel of experts, and finally on 24th November, 2015, the court found me innocent of all the charges leveled against me, and in fact, as part of their investigations, discovered and confirmed that it was rather Henry Osei and his company in Ghana – Guldrest Resources Company Limited (Ghana) – that owed me/my company more than $9.2 million.”