The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has announced the immediate dismissal of Mr. Fred Kwarteng, an IT staff member at Ghana’s embassy in Washington, D.C., due to his involvement in a long-running fraudulent visa and passport scheme.

According to a statement issued by the Minister on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, a special audit conducted by the Ministry uncovered that Mr. Kwarteng had, illegal activities

“With the firm support of President Mahama, I have carried out the following drastic and decisive actions following the damming findings of a special audit team I put together a couple of months ago to investigate alleged corrupt practices at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC,’ the minister said in Facebook post on Monday, May 26, 2025.

The Minister continued, “Mr. Kwarteng was a local staff recruited on August 11, 2017 to work in the embassy’s IT department. According to findings and his own admission, he created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC) where he charged extra for multiple services on the blind side of the ministry and kept the entire proceeds in his private account.

“His illegal extra charges which were not approved by the ministry and parliament as required under the Fees and Charges Act ranges from US$29.75 to US$60 per applicant. The Investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least 5 years. This conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.”

As part of the immediate corrective measures, all Ministry staff currently serving at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C., have been recalled, the embassy's IT department has been dissolved, and consular operations at the mission will be temporarily closed pending a full forensic audit.

The case has been formally reported to the Attorney-General for further investigation, with a view to prosecuting those involved and recovering misappropriated state funds.

Minister Ablakwa emphasized that PresidentMahama’s administration remains resolute in its anti-corruption stance.