A forensic audit by the Auditor-General has revealed an elaborate scheme adopted by staff of the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C., to share money the embassy allegedly extorted from visa and passport applicants between 2019 and 2025.
The audit, which covers operations at the embassy from 2017 to 2025, detailed financial and other schemes through which embassy officials generated millions of dollars outside approved charges.
The report puts the total amount of illegal funds at $19.4 million generated from 2019 to 2025, when the illicit transactions were uncovered and halted by the new administration.
Websites and firms linked to the embassy’s IT Officer, Fred Kwarteng, were used to charge applicants $29.75 for the return posting of their visa and passport applications, when the actual charge was around $10.1.
The report revealed the creation and use of the GhanaPV.Org website, which mimicked the Embassy’s official website and confused unsuspecting applicants into believing they were dealing with official channels.
“The audit proved that Ghanapv.org, created in September 2020, replicated official Embassy branding by using Ghana’s Coat of Arms, the name ‘Embassy of Ghana,’ and official contact details. The website redirected applicants from the Embassy’s website to pay fees for postage and application support services. Applicants were charged $29.75 for return postage and additional support service fees through the platform. The site operated under many entities related to Mr Fred Kwarteng,” the Auditor-General’s report stated.
According to the audit, Ghanapv.org operated under various companies linked to Fred Kwarteng, including Ghana Travel Consultancy (GTC), Secure Data Center LLC, Travel Ghana, Travel Global, Secure Document Management Center (SDMC) and MFG Technology.
The domain TravelGhana.net, originally developed between 2013 and 2014 and relaunched in January 2021, offered mailing and application support services for visa and passport applicants. The platform charged $29.75 for mailing services, $67 for passport support, and $76.78 for visa support services. The website used Ghana’s Coat of Arms and Embassy-like branding between 2021 and 2024, creating the appearance of official affiliation with the Embassy.
The audit report, which cites Fred Kwarteng in other infractions, accuses senior embassy officials of complicity in his activities.
“Email correspondence and internal records show that the activities of Mr Fred Kwarteng were enabled through financial and consular channels involving senior Mission officers. Evidence indicates that the Chief Treasury Officer engaged in actions involving welfare account transactions, payment arrangements, and operational coordination with Mr Kwarteng’s associated entities.
“Correspondence also shows that the Minister (Consular) participated in and was copied on communications where private entities linked to Mr Kwarteng handled dispatch services and courier arrangements. These interactions occurred between 2020 and 2024 and involved redirecting applicants to Fred Kwarteng’s private platforms. The communications demonstrate sustained engagement between the officers and Mr Kwarteng’s activities within Mission operations,” the report said.
Details in the appendix of the Auditor-General’s report show what appeared to have been a scheme to create, loot and share, with the active participation of senior embassy officials.
The audit revealed that the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C., created a bank account through which funds from Fred Kwarteng’s activities were channelled and paid to embassy officials under the guise of “welfare benefits.”
Even before the then Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, ordered the closure of the account, Citibank, where the Welfare account was opened, had raised queries about it.
On March 16, 2020, Janet Maku Koranteng, the Treasury Officer of Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., wrote to Citibank requesting the opening of a new account titled Embassy of Ghana Welfare Account, effective April 1, 2020. The account signers were listed as Mary Zori, First Secretary; Genevieve Edna Apaloo, Head of Chancery; and Janet Maku Koranteng.
Citibank staff subsequently queried embassy officials over the account. On September 4, 2020, Citibank staff member Jay Varkey emailed Janet Maku Koranteng seeking clarification on payments into the account, noting that the only funding so far had come from Ghana Travel Consultancy LLC, one of the entities linked to Fred Kwarteng.
Following a phone discussion, Varkey summarised that the reimbursements from the courier service, generally in the range of $3 to $5 per application, were being credited to the Welfare account for staff welfare payments.
An appendix of the report shows disbursements to staff made from the so-called welfare account.
In June 2021, the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, visited the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C., and ordered the closure of the welfare account used to distribute proceeds from the illicit funds.
While communicating the closure to Citibank on August 31, 2021, Janet Koranteng asked if another account could be opened without the official involvement of the Embassy. Citibank declined, stating it would not open or maintain such an account under non-embassy management if the purpose remained the same.
The account was officially closed on October 10, 2021.
However, the illicit transactions that caused visa and passport applicants to pay far more than the approved charges continued until 2025, when the scheme was exposed, leading to the forensic audit.
