The government of Ghana on Monday announced the temporary closure of its embassy in Washington, DC, in America amid the discovery of some fraudulent activities.
Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa disclosed the measures on his social media handle, Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa @S_OkudzetoAblak on X (formerly Twitter), announcing the immediate dismissal of one Fred Kwarteng, a local employee recruited in 2017, for his role in the alleged fraudulent activities.
Ablakwa disclosed that Kwarteng, who worked at the information technology (IT) department of the embassy, had created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website that diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), where he charged extra fees for multiple services on the blind side of the ministry and kept the entire proceeds in his private account.
“His illegal extra charges, which were not approved by the ministry and parliament as required under the Fees and Charges Act, range from 29.75 U.S. dollars to 60 dollars per applicant,” the minister disclosed.
According to him, investigations had also revealed that Kwarteng and his collaborators had operated the scheme for at least the past five years, and their conduct had been reported to the attorney general for possible prosecution and retrieval of the proceeds of their illegal activities.
“All Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the embassy in Washington have been recalled home with immediate effect. The embassy’s IT department has been promptly dissolved. All locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended,” the minister announced.
He invited the country’s auditor-general to conduct a forensic examination of all transactions to determine the total cost of “this elaborate fraudulent scheme.”