Anas Aremeyaw Anas reveals sponsors of his investigations

Ghanaian celebrated undercover investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas has revealed the source of funding for his epic investigative works. A member of the audience at an event organized by Disruption Lab Network in Germany to discuss combating crime in Africa asked Anas Aremeyaw Anas about his funding sources.

In a bid to uncover where Anas gets all the money he spends in paying bribes in most of his investigative pieces, the audience took the opportunity to ask the Tiger Eye PI journalist.

“Thank you, Anas, amazing stuff very inspiring. I actually have a lot of questions but I am going to ask two, one very practical. First of all is, when you pay these huge amounts of money as bribes, where do you get the money from?”

“And second is, do you sometimes feel like maybe the Ghanaian law enforcement officers may use you as a good publicity for the government, because they may appear [that] we busted these [criminal] guys but that may just be a picture, what do you think about that?”

What Anas Aremeyaw Anas said in response probably was not what most people would have thought was his source of funding. However, the man who sends fear down the spines of criminals in Ghana and Africa said he even wants more funding as his current source is limited.

“Well, where do you get the money? So we are a media house and we have views, we have clicks, we have radio stations that we go into some form of alliance with. So before we start any investigation, there is a budget and that budget is what goes into the film.”

Anas, however, added that they don’t get that money every day and wish the teams get more than what is available to them now so they can do more work. He said they hope to always not pay for their work but they have no way to avoid paying.

“So yes, that is how we get the money. We don’t get it every day, I wish we could get more to do what we do, but we try and we wish we will not be paying more but sometimes you just have to pay more to get it.”

Does Anas Aremeyaw Anas care about sharing his glory?

On police taking credit for his work, the multiple-awarded journalist said his goal is for society to win and that by ensuring the criminals get punished as needed.

“Now the police, yes, it is a decision you have to make. I have been the number one critic of the Ghana Police, I have done stories where many of them have been sacked and all of that, but at the same time, I am able to sense when I need them to help to push the national agenda.”

He said due to his interest in what the nation gets and not personal glory he works hard to ensure personal interests do not influence the pursuit of what is right. According to him if he manages to minimize crime he does not care who takes credit or how the story is told.

“So I try to separate people’s parochial interests from doing what is right. For me, a crime is a crime and I will fight that crime. Whatever way the Police Service wants to use to tell their story, that is for them.”

“But at the end of the day, have I managed to minimise that crime, have I managed to take the person to court, have I managed to sentence the person, those are important things for me. And if I can take pride in that work and the police can take pride in that, it is okay, society moves on well. But I also do know that the police are not your friends, they are not at all, because they are a part of the system and they can be used against you too.”

Another shocking revelation by Anas Aremeyaw Anas pertains to the monies paid as bribes to the people they investigating. He said they don’t often get the money back as some of it has always been kept by the Police as exhibits to aid in prosecution. Anas was responding to CNN’s Stephanie Busari, who asked if he gets the money he pays to the suspects back.

“Well, it depends. There’s been certain occasions that the money has been used as exhibits and the people who used it as exhibits kept it as exhibits, permanent exhibits.”