More details have emerged following a forensic audit by the Auditor-General which revealed an elaborate scheme adopted by the Ghana Embassy staff in Washington, D.C., to share the money the embassy extorted from visa and passport applicants between 2019 and 2025.
It will be recalled that on Monday, May 26, 2025, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, closed down Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, DC after allegations of corruption.
Some embassy staff were alleged to have diverted funds from visa and passport application processes to a privately owned company secretly established.
The report implicated senior officials at the embassy, including Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States, Hajia Alima Mahama; Joseph Ngminebayihi, who served as Minister (Consular) from 2017 to 2021; and his successor, Amidu Mohammed Karande, who served from 2021 to 2025.
According to the audit report, Alima Mahama approved a contract formalising the outsourcing of dispatch services to entities linked to the system.
Pledge Against Corruption puts the total amount of illegal funds at $19.4 million, generated from 2019 to 2025.
In an article by Manasseh Azure cited on Pledge Against Corruption, he detailed how Citibank staff queried Embassy officials over suspicious accounts
He wrote, “Details of the operations contained in the appendix of the Auditor-General’s report show what appeared to have been a grand scheme to “create, loot and share,” with the active participation of senior embassy officials.
The audit report reveals that the Ghana Embassy in Washington, D.C., created a bank account through which funds from Fred Kwarteng’s activities were channelled and paid to embassy officials under the guise of “welfare benefits.”
Even before the then Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, ordered the closure of the account, Citibank, where the Welfare account was opened, had raised queries about the account.
On March 16, 2020, Janet Maku Koranteng, the Treasury Officer of Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C, wrote to Citibank about the opening of an account. In that letter, she said:
“On behalf of the Ghana Embassy/Mission in Washington DC, this letter is to advise that effective date April 1, 2020, you are requested to open a new account titled Embassy of Ghana Welfare Account.”
She listed the account signers as Mary Zori, First Secretary; Genevieve Edna Apaloo, Head of Chancery; and herself, Janet Maku Koranteng.
The first query from Citibank was an email from a Citibank staff member, Melissa Peredo, seeking clarification on whether the $80,000 intended to be withdrawn every quarter from the Welfare account as payment for staff welfare would be made in cash or by cheque.
On September 4, 2020, another Citibank staff member, Jay Varkey, sent an email to Janet Maku Koranteng, querying her about payments into the Ghana Embassy Welfare Account.
“A/c ending 9029, which was recently opened, is intended to make welfare benefit payments to Embassy staff. At the time of the account opening, you indicated that this account will [sic] be funded by contributions from the Embassy staff and also from contributions from the Embassy’s couriers.
“The only funding to this account so far were from Ghana Travel Consultancy LLC by way of three checks indicated below. Is this the Embassy Courier that you indicated?
“Maybe I misunderstood this part, but could you please explain what Gana Travel Consultancy does for you? Are they just a courier service or are they actually processing the consular service applications on your behalf? Also, why are they making these payments to the Embassy?”
Ghana Travel Consultancy is one of the entities linked to Ghana Embassy’s IT Officer, Fred Kwarteng.
Following this email, Citibank’s Jay Varkey and the Ghana Embassy’s Janet Koranteng discussed the query on the phone. After the call, Jay Varkey sent the following email to Janet Koranteng to confirm the explanation Janet had given for the payments from Fred Kwarteng’s entity:
“Please confirm if this accurately summarises our conversation. The consular service applicants can choose a courier/ mailing service of their choice when they apply for passport/visa etc. They make separate payments to such courier/mailing service. These payments are not collected by the Embassy and they do not pass through the Embassy accounts. Once the consular service process is completed, the Embassy will use the selected courier/mailing service to send back the documents to the applicants.
However, since Embassy staff is doing some of the administration work that the courier/mailing service should be doing (e.g. packaging, etc.), the courier/mailing service has agreements to reimburse the Embassy a portion of the charge that they have collected towards mailing. This will vary for different kinds of applications, but it’s generally in the range of $3 to $5 per application processed. The reimbursed money is credited to the Welfare account and is used for Welfare payments to the Embassy staff.
“Gana Travel Consultancy LLC is one of the courier/mailing service providers that is used. They will send reimbursements as described above to the Embassy on a monthly basis. Check 1010 is towards the reimbursements for the month of December 2019, check 1007 is towards the month of January 2020, and check 1008 is towards reimbursement for the month of February 2020.”
An appendix of the Auditor General’s report shows disbursements to staff made from the so-called welfare account.
In June 2021, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, visited the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC, and ordered the closure of the welfare account used to distribute proceeds from illicit funds.
The account was closed as ordered by the Foreign Affairs Minister, but officials of the Ghana Embassy did not abandon their desire to continue with the scheme.
While communicating the closure of the account to Citibank in an email on August 31, 2021, Janet Koranteng asked if another account could be opened without officially involving the Embassy.
“Can the Welfare Committee open an account without the involvement of the management of the Embassy?” she asked.
In a response, Citibank’s Jay Varkey said, “Citi will not be able to open/maintain the welfare account separately (under non-embassy management) as long as the purpose of the account remains the same (for making welfare payments to embassy employees).”
The account was officially closed on October 10, 2021.
However, the illicit transactions that caused visa and passport applicants to pay far more than they were supposed to pay continued until 2025, when the cover on the Embassy’s underhand dealings was blown, necessitating the subsequent forensic audit”.
@ghnow_ “I take all the blame, I am sorry for this disgrace to my father”- Akofena Speaks #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ There are issues in every family, I call my sister (Adwoa Safo) “Sokode” – Akofenya speaks #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
