The former head of IT at the Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC, Fred Kwarteng, has broken his silence on the scandal, addressing the incident for the first time.

Speaking in an interview with Asempa 94.7 FM on May 29, 2025, Fred Kwarteng rejected the assertion by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, arguing that he had not engaged in an illegality at the embassy as widely propagated.

He explained that the services he provided for clients had nothing to do with his responsibilities at the embassy.

He stated that he only came up with an idea to facilitate service delivery to customers of the embassy, and these services did not affect any revenue due the embassy.

“I was working for the embassy. However, in this case, I was being paid for the other stuff that I did for the embassy. This other service was to offer solution for outsiders. They were paying me to go buy their return envelopes, prepare their labels, and make sure they could receive timely communication up to the time it gets delivered to them. These are two different things.

“If I had put a charge on coming up with that idea, for example, a certain amount of money the government should pay me for coming up with this intellectual idea, and I’m still operating it, it is a different ball game… I did not ask for money,” he said.

He added, “So, if I say that instead of putting the burden on the embassy, let us put the burden on the applicant by finding a way to solve their problem how does it constitute a crime (sic). The system added verification and communicated with them. When there was an issue, they were being communicated to.”

“For all these years, did anybody go online or on social media to say that somebody had stolen his or her money or passport? No, there were no complaints.

“So, can we look at the good side which is the fact that people were benefiting, and forget about the fact that somebody was benefiting from a concept he put together?” he asked.

He asserted that authorities at the embassy knew about the service he was providing.

He added that if he had been doing something bad, they would not have put the link to the service on the embassy’s website for everybody to see.

About the closure:

Ghana’s embassy in Washington, DC was closed on Monday, May 26, 2025, following allegations of corrupt practices within the institution.

Announcing the decision, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa stated that an audit had uncovered that a local staff member, Fred Kwarteng, along with accomplices within the Washington DC embassy, had unlawfully collected unapproved fees through an unauthorised link integrated into the embassy’s official website.

Fred Kwarteng was also alleged to have diverted funds from visa and passport application processes to a privately owned company he secretly established, using it as a conduit to embezzle public funds, an illegality that reportedly persisted for five years.

“With the firm support of President Mahama, I have carried out the following drastic and decisive actions following the damning findings of a special audit team I put together a couple of months ago to investigate alleged corrupt practices at Ghana’s embassy in Washington DC,” the minister said in a Facebook post on Monday, May 26, 2025.

He continued, “Mr Kwarteng was a local staff member recruited on August 11, 2017, to work in the embassy’s IT department. According to findings and his own admission, he authorised a link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel (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, ranged from US$29.75 to US$60 per applicant. The investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least five years. This conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.”

The minister further announced that, with immediate effect, all Foreign Affairs Ministry personnel assigned to the Washington, DC embassy have been recalled to Ghana.

Listen to his remarks below:

Fred Kwarteng, the former head of IT at Ghana’s embassy in Washington D.C., has denied allegations that he diverted embassy funds.

He urged Ghanaians to focus on the value of the services he has been providing rather than his personal earnings.

According to Fred Kwarteng, his… pic.twitter.com/axWAo2Bkil

— SIKAOFFICIAL🦍 (@SIKAOFFICIAL1) May 30, 2025

BAI/MA

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