A forensic audit report by the Auditor General has reportedly confirmed a scheme at Ghana’s embassy in Washington, DC, the United States, in which visa and passport applicants were allegedly extorted between 2019 and 2025.

According to the details of the report, shared by pacgh.org and sighted by GhanaWeb on August 12, 2026, the illicit funds were transferred to an account created by some of the officials who were implicated and shared under the guise of “welfare benefits.”

Excerpts of the said report showed some of the beneficiaries of the “welfare benefits”, who received from $800 to $3,000.

Some of the names on the list include Kofi Tonto, Janet Maku Koranteng, Karim Kudayah, Mary Zori, and Tettey Addy.

It is not clear whether Kofi Tonto on the list is the same as the New Patriotic Party communicator, but he previously worked at the embassy as Head of Information and Public Affairs.

Janet Maku Koranteng was the Treasury Officer at the Embassy who wrote a letter to create the bank account the funds were paid into with Citibank on March 16, 2020.

Mary Zori was the First Secretary (Account) of the embassy and a signatory to the account.

The report also showed that Citibank officials raised questions on the withdrawal and deposit of funds into the said account.

A bank official is said to have questioned the embassy about payments into the Ghana Embassy Welfare Account by Ghana Travel Consultancy LLC, a company created by Fred Kwarteng.

"A/c ending 9029, which was recently opened, is intended to make welfare benefit payments to Embassy staff. At the time of the account opening, you indicated that this account will [sic] be funded by contributions from the Embassy staff and also from contributions from the Embassy's couriers.

"The only funding to this account so far was from Ghana Travel Consultancy LLC by way of three cheques indicated below. Is this the Embassy Courier that you indicated?

"Maybe I misunderstood this part, but could you please explain what Gana Travel Consultancy does for you? Are they just a courier service or are they actually processing the consular service applications on your behalf? Also, why are they making these payments to the Embassy?" the official asked.

The report also showed that the said welfare account was closed after the intervention of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey.

See list of payments from the accounts below:







BAI/VPO

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