A forensic audit by the Auditor-General has uncovered a startling $19.37 million in irregular proceeds from visa and passport-related charges at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington D.C. between 2019 and 2025.
The audit, which spanned several years, revealed a sophisticated scheme where applicants seeking passports or visas were redirected from the embassy’s official website to privately controlled external platforms. These platforms, disguised with official symbols and presentation styles, led many to believe they were dealing with government-authorised services. Instead, applicants found themselves paying hefty additional fees for processing and for the return of their documents.
One of the most striking discoveries centered on mailing charges. Applicants were forced to pay $29.75 for return mailing, even though the average actual postage cost was only about $10.10. Over the review period, applicants paid a total of $6.95 million in mailing and dispatch fees. After deducting the true postage cost of $2.36 million, the auditors found an excess of approximately $4.59 million—money that found its way into unauthorized hands.
But the irregularities didn’t end there. The audit found that applicants were also billed $67 for passport application support services and $76.78 for visa application assistance—charges that were never officially sanctioned by the government. Using data from the embassy’s Electronic Consular Information Management System (eCIMS) and AppTrack, investigators traced $21.34 million in transactions linked to these activities. After accounting for legitimate costs, about $19.37 million remained classified as irregular proceeds.
The investigation uncovered that the external platforms, including TravelGhana.Net and GhanaPV.org, were linked to the embassy’s own Information Technology Officer, Fred Kwarteng, and associated entities. These sites were connected to the embassy’s official systems, with applicants unknowingly redirected to make payments through them.
The ramifications of these irregularities extended beyond financial loss. The audit documented significant delays in the delivery of passports and visas. Between June and August 2025 alone, the embassy faced a backlog of 12,721 applications, even though applicants had already paid for mailing services. Of these, only 4,507 applications were mailed; the remaining 8,214 were either collected personally or not delivered at all. The embassy later spent about $45,000 to post letters and address part of the backlog.
The report also scrutinized the actions of senior officials, such as former Ambassador Alima Mahama, who served from 2021 to 2024. According to the audit, Mrs Mahama signed a contract to formalize the outsourcing of passport and visa dispatch services to Travel Ghana/Secure Data Center, a decision that played a pivotal role in the unfolding events.
Ultimately, the Auditor-General attributed the irregularities to weak internal controls, lack of oversight, manipulation of the embassy website, and the use of unauthorized external platforms. The report recommended that all irregular monies be recovered from the key actors involved, and that the implicated officers face sanctions under the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038).
Source: Apexnewsgh.com