A forensic audit by the Auditor-General has uncovered about $19.37 million in irregular proceeds from visa and passport-related charges at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington D.C between 2019 and 2025.

The audit found that applicants were redirected from the embassy’s official website to privately controlled external platforms where they were charged additional fees for passport and visa processing and the return of their documents.

Applicants were charged US$29.75 for return mailing while the average actual postage cost was about US$10.10.

The audit found that applicants paid a total of US$6.95 million in mailing and dispatch fees during the period under review. 

After deducting the estimated actual postage cost of $2.36 million, the excess from mailing fees alone amounted to about $4.59 million.

Applicants were also charged $67 for passport application support services and $76.78 for visa application support services through the external platforms.

According to the audit, these services were not part of officially approved government charges.

Using data from the embassy’s Electronic Consular Information Management System (eCIMS) and AppTrack, the audit identified $21.34 million in transactions linked to the activities.

After accounting for actual costs, approximately $19.37 million was classified as irregular.

The audit identified external platforms including TravelGhana.Net and GhanaPV.org which it linked to Information Technology Officer, Fred Kwarteng, and associated entities.

The platforms were linked to the embassy’s official systems with applicants redirected to them from the embassy’s website to make payments.

The Auditor-General said the platforms used official symbols and presentation styles that could give applicants the impression that they were government-authorised.

The audit also found significant delays in the delivery of passports and visas.

Between June and August 2025, the embassy had a backlog of 12,721 applications despite applicants having already paid for mailing services.

Only 4,507 applications were mailed while 8,214 were either collected personally or remained undelivered.

The embassy subsequently incurred about $45,000 to post letters and clear part of the backlog.

The report also examined the roles of senior officials who served at the embassy during the period including former Ambassador Alima Mahama.

According to the audit, Mrs Mahama, who served as Ambassador from 2021 to 2024, signed a contract formalising the outsourcing of passport and visa dispatch services to Travel Ghana/Secure Data Center.

The Auditor-General attributed the irregularities to weak internal controls, inadequate oversight, manipulation of the embassy’s website and the use of unauthorised external platforms.

It recommended that the irregular monies be recovered from the key actors and that affected officers be sanctioned under the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038).