TNR Files
A forensic audit into financial irregularities at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, DC has directly implicated former Ambassador Hajia Alima Mahama in an alleged $19.3 million scandal involving years of unauthorised fees collected from passport and visa applicants a scheme that operated for five years under her watch.
The former Local Government and Rural Development Minister did not merely fail to act; the forensic audit concluded she gave formal legitimacy to the arrangement that accrued millions of dollars. Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, backed by President John Mahama, commissioned the audit after ordering the embassy’s temporary closure on 28 May 2025 a move that attracted local and international headlines.
The Public Accountability and Integrity Commission uncovered a scheme in which consular applicants were systematically directed away from official platforms to private external websites where they were charged fees that had never been sanctioned.
A return postage charge of $29.75 was levied on applicants nearly $20 above the actual cost of approximately $10.10. In all, the scheme generated over $4 million in unauthorised mailing revenues alone.
The audit specifically named Fred Kwarteng, the embassy’s IT Officer, as the central figure behind the operation of these external portals.
“The forensic analysis of visa and passport processing activities at the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, DC, identified irregular financial transactions related to dispatch/mailing charges between 2019 and 2025; application support services between 2021 and 2025; extra merchant fees for online payments between 2020 and 2025; as well as transactions involving Fred Kwarteng & STEFRANN LLC between 2019 and 2020,” the report stated.
In addition to mailing charges, applicants were required to pay “application support service fees” through the unapproved external platforms. These fees were set at $67 for passport applications and $76.78 for visa applications charges never approved by the government.
“These services were presented as necessary for completing applications, even though they were not part of officially approved government charges,” the report said.
The scheme saw applicants redirected to external websites where they paid these fees before being processed. The unauthorised charges continued for five years until the new administration detected the fraud.
The audit’s most damaging finding concerns Ambassador Mahama’s personal involvement. The report cited her for supervisory failure and for giving formal legitimacy to the arrangement.
“She signed the General Contract for Services between the Embassy and Travel Ghana / Secure Data Centre, thereby formalising the outsourcing of passport and visa dispatch functions to a related party, with unauthorised fees charged to applicants,” the report stated.
Ablakwa had previously accused the first female Ghanaian Ambassador to the US of enabling corruption and attempting to undermine the Ministry’s investigations and downplay the magnitude of the fraud uncovered.
The former ambassador, who also served as Minister for Gender, Children and Social
The Economic and Organised Crime Office has taken up the case, with the former ambassador set to be held accountable for her actions. The swift action followed allegations of corruption involving embassy staff, as an audit concluded that Kwarteng and accomplices collected unapproved fees for private use using an unauthorised link embedded on the embassy’s official website.
The staff allegedly diverted moneys raised from visa and passport application processes to a personal company Kwarteng secretly set up. This criminal act continued for five years until it was detected following the assumption of office of the North Tongu Member of Parliament.
The total financial impact of the scheme is estimated at $19.3 million, encompassing:
· Unauthorised dispatch/mailing charges ($4 million+)
· Unapproved application support service fees
· Extra merchant fees for online payments
· Unauthorised transactions involving Fred Kwarteng & STEFRANN LLC
The audit covers the period from 2019 to 2025, spanning the latter years of the Akufo-Addo administration and the transition to the current government.
The Washington embassy scandal is a textbook case of how Ghana’s diplomatic missions have become cash cows for well-connected officials and their associates. That a scheme of this magnitude could operate for five years under the nose of an ambassador who previously served as a Cabinet minister speaks volumes about the culture of impunity that pervades Ghana’s foreign service.
Alima Mahama’s defence if she offers one will likely rest on claims of ignorance or delegation. But the audit’s finding that she personally signed the contract formalising the outsourcing arrangement makes ignorance an impossible defence. She did not merely fail to detect the fraud; she signed the paperwork that made it possible.
The question now is whether EOCO will pursue this case with the same vigour it has applied to other high-profile investigations. The forensic audit has done the heavy lifting. The evidence is on the record. What remains is the political will to hold a former minister and ambassador accountable.
The $19.3 million that went missing from Ghana’s Washington embassy is not just a financial loss it is a betrayal of every Ghanaian who paid fees in good faith, believing they were contributing to their country’s diplomatic service.
The government’s decision to shut down the embassy and commission this audit was a necessary first step. The next step prosecution and asset recovery will determine whether this scandal becomes a turning point or just another case that fades into bureaucratic silence.