The Ghanaian Embassy in Washington, DC was temporarily closed after investigating staff leviing illegal additional fees for at least five years.
The country's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okdozet Abrakwa, posted on Facebook about the investigation on Monday, calling his actions “dramatic and decisive.”
Why is it important?
Approximately 172,558 Ghanaians live in the United States, according to figures published in the Journal of Blacks for Higher Education.
Many of them rely on the Washington Embassy for passport services, visa services, citizenship issues and emergency assistance.
In addition to not accessing these services for several days, some of these people may have been victims of corruption plans.
AP
What do you know
The Okudzeto Ablakwa special audit team discovered that Fred Kwarteng, a local staff member who worked in the embassy's IT department, was implementing a fraudulent scheme.
He “created a fraudulent link on the embassy website, which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultant (GTC), where he charged additional fees for multiple services on the blind side of the province, maintaining the entire revenue in his personal account,” Okudzeto Ablakwa said.
Kwarteng and “his collaborators” implemented the scheme for at least five years, Okudzeto Ablakwa said, citing “the findings” and Kwarteng's “his own admission.”
After the investigation, all foreign ministry staff posted to the Washington Embassy were called to their homes, the embassy's IT department was disbanded, and the embassy was “closed for several days.”
Okudzeto Ablakwa said the closure would remain in place until Ghana concluded “continuous restructuring and system overhaul.”
In addition to this, all staff employed in the Embassy locally were suspended, and the inspectors were invited to conduct forensic investigations of all transactions and determine the total cost of the elaborate fraud scheme.
okdzeto ablakwa added that these measures were taken with “sturdy support of President John Mahama.”
What people are saying
Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okdozet Abrakwa said:
“President Mahama's government continues to demonstrate zero tolerance against corruption, naked conflicts of interest and blatant abuse of duties.”
What will happen next
It is unclear whether Kwarten was criminally charged or whether the Ghanaian government intends to compensate victims of corruption.
Newsweek reached out to Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.
