A forensic audit by the Auditor-General has exposed a sophisticated six-year scheme at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., in which senior officials allegedly colluded to extort approximately $19.4 million from unsuspecting visa and passport applicants — then shared the proceeds through an unofficial “welfare account” that even Citibank had flagged as suspicious.
The audit, covering embassy operations from 2017 to 2025, reveals that applicants were systematically redirected from the embassy’s official website to privately controlled platforms such as GhanaPV.Org and TravelGhana.net, where they were charged unauthorised fees of up to $76.78 per application — nearly triple the legitimate cost.
A scheme to ‘create, loot and share’
The audit report describes what appears to have been a grand scheme to “create, loot and share” — with the active participation of senior embassy officials. At the centre of the operation was Fred Kwarteng, the embassy’s Information Technology Officer, who created and operated external platforms under multiple private entities including Ghana Travel Consultancy (GTC), Secure Data Center LLC, Travel Ghana, Travel Global, Secure Document Management Center (SDMC) and MFG Technology.
The audit accuses senior officials of complicity, stating: “Email correspondence and internal records show that the activities of Mr Fred Kwarteng were enabled through financial and consular channels involving senior Mission officers.”
The Welfare Account: a conduit for extorted funds
According to the audit report, funds from Kwarteng’s activities were funneled through a bank account at Citibank labelled as “welfare benefits.”
On March 16, 2020, Janet Maku Koranteng, the embassy’s Chief Treasury Officer, wrote to Citibank requesting the opening of an “Embassy Welfare Account” effective April 1, 2020, listing herself and two other officials as signatories.
In September 2020, Citibank queried the account after noticing that the only source of funding into the Welfare Account was from Ghana Travel Consultancy LLC — a private entity linked to Fred Kwarteng.
Minister’s intervention ignored
On June 9, 2021, then Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey visited the Washington Embassy and “frowned on the practice of mobilizing ‘voluntary contributions’ from travel agents to fund staff welfare.” She ordered the closure of the welfare account due to its use of illicit funds.
Despite the minister’s directive, the account remained active. On July 23, 2021, funds were shared among local and home-based staff, with each receiving at least $800.
On August 31, 2021, Janet Koranteng requested closure of the Welfare Account and inquired if Citibank could open a separate retirement investment account — or if the Welfare Committee could open a new Welfare Account without embassy management involvement. Citibank declined, noting the account could not be maintained separately under non-embassy management.
On September 3, 2021, at a meeting of Home-Based Officers, it was confirmed that funds had been withdrawn and a closure letter issued per the Head of Mission’s directive.
Citibank flags suspicious payments
On September 23, 2021, Citibank queried transaction statements showing disbursements from the Welfare Account between July 7-22, 2021, noting that credits from individuals were not expected in Embassy accounts. The bank demanded explanations.
The flagged payments included:
Name Amount (US$)
Karim Kudayah 3,000
Mary Zori 3,000
Joseph Ngminebayihi 3,000
Tettey Addy 3,000
Janet Maku Koranteng 3,000
Kofi Tonto 800
Janet Maku Koranteng 1,000
Total 16,800
The welfare account was officially closed on October 10, 2021 — but illicit transactions continued until the forensic audit exposed the dealings in 2025.
Former Ambassador implicated
The audit also implicated former Ambassador Hajia Alima Mahama for supervisory failure. The report states she “signed the General Contract for Services between the Embassy and Travel Ghana / Secure Data Centre, thereby formalising the outsourcing of passport and visa dispatch functions to a related party, with unauthorised fees charged to applicants.”
Mahama has disputed the allegations, maintaining that the contractor operated under a valid agreement and that no financial loss was caused to the state.
The broader scandal
The forensic audit, commissioned by current Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa after the embassy was temporarily shut down in May 2025, uncovered that applicants paid more than $4 million in unauthorised mailing fees alone.
The case has been referred to the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for prosecution and potential recovery of stolen funds.
