Visa Racketeering At EXPO 2003

... An embarrassment to the country
... 790 UK visas Issued, but few showed up at the fair.
Local FM Staion, JOY FM, is investigating reports that certain officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information and the Ghana Export Promotion Council were involved in visa racketeering, during preparations for the just ended EXPO 2003, held in London.

Latest investigation has revealed that a female employee of the Information Ministry was allegedly arrested last week in connection with visa racketeering. The woman, Lilian Mensah, was alleged to have collected thousands of pounds sterling from certain individuals under the pretext of procuring British visas for them to participate in the EXPO 2003 event in London.

But, as is being reported many of the supposed participants failed to show up at the event. Others were also swindled of their money.

Lilian Mensah was allegedly placed under citizen’s arrest in Accra last week and handed over to the police. A woman who claimed to be one of her victims told Joy FM that she paid 1, 850 Pounds Sterling for her application to be processed. But the victim has since indicated her intention not to press any charge fearing that she could lose her money if punitive action is taken against Miss Mensah.

Officials at the Ministries of Information and Foreign Affairs and the Ghana Export Promotion Council are yet to comment on the allegations of visa racketeering involving some public officials who facilitated the procurement of visas for at least a thousand people.

The Ghana Expo 2003 was to showcase the country’s investment potential and attract foreign investors. But JOY FM investigations indicate that hundreds of Ghanaians presented themselves to the organisers as business entrepreneurs and managed to obtain visas with the endorsement of the Ministries of Information, Foreign Affairs and the Ghana Export Promotion Council.

But many of them failed to show up at the event, which recorded low patronage. The organisers of the show, EXPO Africa, have confirmed facilitating the procurement of about 790 UK visas and the fact that many of them did not show up at the fair.

Some critics have described the whole affair as an embarrassment to the country especially since, it now appears, the government’s endorsement of the project was exploited to secure the visas for very sinister motives.