Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has provided Parliament a detailed report of the corruption scandal at Ghana's Embassy in Washington DC involving one Fred Kwarteng.

The minister noted that the government is working with the United States authorities to freeze the accounts of Fred and other suspects.

“I underscore that Felix Kwarteng, the principal suspect in this case, along with any accomplices, will be held fully accountable under the law. This includes cooperating with US authorities to freeze the accounts linked to this criminal enterprise,” he stated.

“I issued a series of directives, which are currently being enforced. One is an internal investigative committee to probe all locally recruited staff. EOCO has formally been notified to pursue Mr. Kwarteng, trace the prints of crime, and have him brought to Ghana for prosecution,” he added.

On May 26, the minister announced the temporary closure of the embassy due to a corruption scandal involving one Mr. Fred Kwarteng, a local staff member recruited on August 11, 2017, to work in the embassy’s IT department.

To aid further probe, all Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the Washington embassy were recalled home with immediate effect. Also, the IT department was dissolved, and all locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended.

Details of Mr Kwarteng's activities

Mr Kwarteng is said to have created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website that 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 range 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," Mr Ablakwa revealed.

Mr Fred Kwarteng has been fired, and his conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine, for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.

The Auditor-General has been invited to conduct a forensic examination of all transactions and to determine the total cost of this fraudulent scheme.

A recently discovered 2023 unauthorized, opaque and illegal agreement between Fred Kwarteng and a top official at the Washington Embassy has been declared a nullity and will no longer be respected.

The ministry announced the reversal of the minister’s decision, and Ghana's Embassy in Washington DC was reopened on May 29 after a team of seasoned diplomats led by an astute diplomat was tasked to run the mission.

In 24 hours, Ghana's embassy in Washington DC issued over 800 visas after operations resumed.

The sector minister has commended the fresh team of seasoned diplomats "for the great job so far in implementing our systems overhaul and institutional fumigation."

Mr Ablakwa has also refuted claims of new recruitments to replace lost jobs in the Washington embassy, adding that "we have an adequate stock of distinguished and astute diplomats to lead ongoing reforms — this patriotic consequential reset agenda aimed at restoring the image of our diplomatic missions abroad cannot be reduced to “jobs for the boys.”"