DEGLORY GH MEDIA

Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has announced that the country’s embassy in Washington, D.C. will reopen on Thursday, May 29, 2025. This comes after a brief closure that began on May 26 due to the discovery of extensive fraud within the embassy’s IT operations.

The decision to temporarily shut down the embassy followed the findings of a special audit, which exposed a major corruption scheme involving a locally hired IT officer, Fred Kwarteng. According to the audit, Kwarteng secretly created and operated an unauthorized payment platform linked to the embassy’s website. This fraudulent portal, under the name of his private company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), redirected applicants for consular services—including visas and passports—to make payments outside the official government system. Applicants were reportedly charged illegal fees ranging from $29.75 to $60, in violation of the Fees and Charges Act.

The scheme is believed to have persisted undetected for over five years, resulting in significant financial losses to the state and undermining public trust in the embassy’s operations.

In response to the revelations, the Ministry has undertaken several corrective measures:

• All Ministry-affiliated staff at the Washington mission have been recalled to Accra.
• The entire locally recruited staff at the embassy has been suspended pending further investigations.
• The embassy’s IT department has been dissolved.
• A new team of IT professionals has been deployed to overhaul the embassy’s digital infrastructure. This includes reconfiguring the official website and payment systems to enhance security and remove unauthorized third-party links.

The Ministry has referred the case to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution of the individuals involved and for efforts to recover the embezzled funds. Additionally, the Auditor-General has been tasked with conducting a comprehensive forensic audit to determine the full scope of financial damage.

Officials have assured the public and Ghanaians in the diaspora that these reforms are intended to restore transparency, integrity, and efficient service delivery at Ghana’s diplomatic missions. The Ministry also apologized for any inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of operations.