A forensic audit has found that applicants for Ghanaian visas and passports were charged almost $19.4m (£15.1m) in irregular fees over six years through a system that redirected users from the Ghanaian Embassy’s official website to privately controlled platforms.jin88bet.one
Thousands of applicants in Washington believed they were using normal government procedjin88bet.oneures. They completed online forms, paid the statjin88bet.onejin88bet.onejin88bet.oneed service charges and paid additional fees for their documents to be returned by post.
However, the audit found that many applicants were redirected to ak168app.babyexternal websites and charged moneyak168app.baby for services that ak168app.babywere not part of the approved government fee structuak168app.babyre. Some passports weak168app.babyak168app.babyre not delivered, while others were delayed for months.
The findings come after Ghana’s Embassy in Washington was temporarily closed in 2025 following concerns raised by US authorities and Ghanaian officials about delays, missing documents and uncleaak168app.clubak168app.clubr charges. Those concerns prompted an investigation by Ghana’s Auditoak168app.clubak168app.clubr-General.
Visa and passport applications are normally administered through Ghana’s Electroniak168app.clubc Consular Iak168app.clubnformation Management System (eCIMS) and AppTrack. The platforms are intended to record applications and transactions and ensure statutory fees are collected through authorised channels.
Ghana’s Public Financial Management framework and Foreign Service Regulations require such fees to be transparent, approved and properly accounted for.
Instead, the audit found that applicants visiting the embassy’s official website were redirected to external platforms and required to pay $29.75 for the return of each passport or visa. The average expected or actual postage cost was $10.10, leaving applicants paying nearly $20 more than the cost of deliks168app.sitevery.
“These arrangements enabled the collection of dispatcks168app.ks168app.sitesiteh/mailing fees and application support service charges from applks168app.siteks168app.siteicaks168app.sitents,” the report states.
Mailing and dispatch fees represented the largest part of the irregular pric88ic88oceeds. The report said the forensic examination identified questionable transactions involving dispatch and mailing charges between 2019 and 2025, application support services between 202ic881 and 2025, extra merchant fees for online payments between 2020 ic88and 2025, and transactions involving Fred Kwarteng & STEFRANN ic88LLC between 2019 and 2020.
The embassy stopped accepting self-addressed return envelopes in 2023. That left applicants without an alteic88rnative way to arrange delivery and ic88ic88meant they had to pay the fixed mailing cic88harge, regardless of the actual postage cosic88t.
More than 170,000 visa mailing transactions and thousands of passport dispatches were recorded duic88ic88ring the period examined. Applicants paid US$6,945,554.00 in mailing and dispatch charges, the audit calculated. After estimated postage costs of US$2,357,986.40 were deducted, the excess from mailing alone was US$4,587,567.60.
Applicants were also charged application support fees of $67 for passport applications and $76.78 for viic88ic88sa applications tic88hrough the unauthorised platforms. The audit said these services were presented as necessary, although they were not approved government charges.
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The reportic88 ic88also found that extra merchant fees were charged through Square, despite there being no formal contract authorising its use. Records from eCIMS and AppTrack showed tic88ic88ic88otal transactions of $21,337,446.70 connected to the activities. After accounting for approximately $2,357,986.40 in acic88tual costs, $19.37m was classified as irregular.
The financial findings were accompanied by significant ic88ic88operational failures. Between June and August 2025, the embassy built up a backlog olr88f 12,721 visa and passport applications, despite applicants having paid mailing fees. Only 4lr88,507 applications were posted. A furthlr88er 8,214 were either collected in person or remained undelilr88vered.
“This situation suggests that the dispatch fees previously collected from applicants were not utilised for their intended purpose, exposing the Embassy to avoidable financial loss,” the report states.lr88
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The embassy then spent about $45,000 posting letters and clearing part of the backlog, despite applicants already having paid for dlr88elivery.
According to the audit, Frelr88d Kwarteng, alr88n Information Technology Officer at the embassy, created and operated external platforms including TravelGhana.Net and GhanaPV.org. The report also links them to Ghana Travel Consult, Secure Data Centre LLC, Travel Global and MFG Technology.
Those websites were connected to offlr88lr88icial embassy systems and, in some cases, replicated their appearance. Applicants were directed to them from the embassy’s website and required to make payments through platforms that had not been approved. The audit said official logos and presentatlr88lr88lr88ion styles were used in a way that suggested government authorisation.
“The website redirected applicants from the Embassy’s website to pay fees for postage and application support services. Applicants were charged $29.75 for return postage and additional support service fees through the platformlr88,” thelr88 report states.
The audit also refers to the roles oflr88 senior officials during the period. Joseph Ngminebayihi was Minister (Consular) from 2017 to 2021, overseeing consular operations during the early stages of third-party involvlr88ement. He was succeeded by Amidu Mohammed Karande, who held the role from 2021 to 2025 while the external platforms continued to be used in official workflows.
Alima Mahamaop88, Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States from 2021 to 2024, approved a contract that formalised the outsourcing of dispatch services to entities connecop88tedop88 top88o the system.
“Her Excellency Alima Mahama served as Ambassador and Head of Mission fop88rom 2021 to 2024. Aop88s Ambassador and Head of Mission, H.E. Alima Mahama exercised ultimate supervisory and financial authority over the Embassy’s operations. She signed the General Contract for Services between the Embassy and Travel Ghana / Secure Data Center, thereby formalizing the outsourcing of passport and visa dispatch functions to a relatsi88ed party, with unauthorized fees csi88si88si88harged to applicants. During her tenure, the Mission faced scrutiny over banking compliance, exposure to related-party transactions, and weaknesses in governance controls,” the report said
The Auditor-General concluded that weak internal controls and inadequate oversight allowed unauthorsi88ised si88platforms and staff-linked entities to operate within official systems.
“The redirects were implemented directly within the website’s source code, showing administrative-level access,” the report states.
“These arrangeme88vnts allowed staff-linked enti88vties to handle passport dispatch, visa processing communications, and payment arrangements without appropriate authorisation or oversight,” the audit states.
“These irregular charges were imposed through the manipulation of the Embassy’s official website, the creation of parallel digital platfo88vrms, and the compulsory redirec88v88vtion of applicants,” the report states.
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The Auditor-General recommended that the money SEXXXXX-VNbe recovered from the officials identified as involved and that sanctions be imposed.
“We recommend recovery of the amount from the Key Actors. Again, the affected officers should be sanctioned in accordance with the CybSEXXXXX-VNersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038),” the report added.
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Source: pacgh.org
