In a swift move to fight corruption and uphold accountability, the Government of Ghana has launched a forensic audit following revelations of a multimillion-dollar visa fraud scheme at the country’s embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Government has also sacked one Mr. Fred Kwarteng, who is at the centre of the scandal.
According to the audit findings and his own admission, Mr. Kwarteng created an unauthorised link on the embassy’s official website, redirecting applicants to a private company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), which he owned.
Through this channel, he charged unapproved fees ranging from $29.75 to $60 per applicant and pocketed the proceeds in his personal account.
The scheme, which is said to have been in operation for the past five years seems to have a large network of collaborators.
In ensuring accountability, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who is leading the Foreign Affairs Ministry in a post shared via social media listed a number of measures taken by government including:
1) The immediate dismissal of Mr. Fred Kwarteng.
Mr. Kwarteng was a local staff recruited on August 11, 2017 to work in the embassy’s IT department. According to findings and his own admission, he created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC) where he charged extra 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 ranges from US$29.75 to US$60 per applicant. The Investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least 5 years.
This conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.
2) All Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the Washington embassy have been recalled home with immediate effect.
3) The embassy’s IT department has been promptly dissolved.
4) All locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended.
5) The Auditor-General has been invited to conduct forensic examination of all transactions and to determine the total cost of this elaborate fraudulent scheme.
6) Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC shall be closed for a few days from today as we finalize the ongoing restructuring and systems overhaul.
