Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC has been temporarily shut down amid a general restructuring and systems overhaul, a senior government official says.
This was after investigations into a fraud scheme allegedly involving one of its workers, foreign minister Samuel Okudzeto confirmed on his Facebook page on Monday.
He also announced the immediate dismissal of Mr Fred Kwarteng, who was employed to head the embassy’s IT department last August.
All embassy staff from Ghana have been recalled while local workers based in Washington have also been suspended as the IT department is scrapped.
These drastic measures follows damming findings of a special audit team the ministry had put together to probe alleged corrupt practices at Ghana’s embassy in Washington which established that Mr Kwarteng had created an unauthorised link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (GTC).
According to the findings Kwarteng had ”charged extra for multiple services on the blind side of the ministry and kept the entire proceeds in his private account”.
Those extra charges were not approved by the ministry and parliament as required under the Fees and Charges Act.
They ranged from $29.75 to $60 per applicant, according to the investigations, which also found that Kwarteng’s scheme with the aid of collaborators had operated for at least five years.
The Attorney-General has been contacted for advise over a possible prosecution with a view to determining the extent of the fraud in monetary terms and retrieving funds obtained through it.
WN/as/APA