By James Amoh Junior
Accra, May 26, GNA – Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Monday announced a series of drastic actions following findings of alleged corruption at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington DC.
He said a special audit team, set up some months ago to investigate alleged corrupt practices at the embassy, uncovered a sophisticated fraudulent scheme perpetrated over at least five years.
This has resulted in the dismissal, suspension, and recall of key personnel, as well as a temporary closure of the mission.
With the full backing of President John Dramani Mahama, Mr Fred Kwarteng, a locally recruited staff member who joined the Embassy’s IT Department on August 11, 2017, has been dismissed with immediate effect, the Minister said on his Facebook page.
The audit report and Mr Kwarteng’s own admission revealed that he created an unauthorised link on the embassy’s official website that redirected visa and passport applicants to a private entity, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC), which he owned.
Through the scheme, applicants were charged additional fees ranging from US$29.75 to US$60 per transaction.
Those charges were neither sanctioned by the Ministry nor approved by Parliament, thereby violating the Fees and Charges Act.
All proceeds from the fraudulent operation were deposited into Mr Kwarteng’s private accounts.
“The investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least five years,” Mr Ablakwa said.
“This conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.”
He has, therefore, ordered the immediate recall of all Foreign Affairs Ministry staff currently stationed at the embassy.
The embassy’s entire IT department had also been dissolved, and all locally recruited staff had been suspended pending further investigations, Mr Ablakwa said.
To ensure accountability and transparency, the Auditor-General had been invited to conduct a forensic audit of all financial and operational transactions at the embassy to determine the full extent of the fraud and assess the total cost to the state.
As part of ongoing restructuring and systems overhaul, the embassy would be temporarily closed for a few days, he said.
Mr Ablakwa acknowledged the inconvenience that may cause to visa and passport applicants but stressed the necessity of those measures to prevent fraud.
“Any inconvenience these radical measures may cause visa and passport applicants is regretted. President Mahama’s government will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for corruption, naked conflict of interest, and blatant abuse of office,” he said.
GNA
Agnes Boye-Doe