Auditors at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, DC, uncovered a significant breach of security at the Mission’s IT office following a forensic audit, leading to accusations against Fred Kwarteng, the Embassy’s IT officer. The audit, conducted between January 2017 and June 2025, revealed a complex web of discrepancies and suspicious activity.
During the investigation, auditors recovered eighteen (18) passport booklets, some blank biometric, from Mr. Kwarteng’s office, four of which were completely blank. One contained his image, while the remaining booklets were inactive, indicating a potential loss of passport data. Furthermore, fifty-nine used and unused visa stickers were recovered, materials crucial for controlling visa processing.
Biometric passport booklets, a highly sensitive document, were deemed crucial to the mission’s security. The auditors immediately noted that every booklet received, issued, or held in storage was expected to be accounted for. The discovery came despite an earlier internal review revealing concerns about managing biometric passport booklets at the Embassy.
A May 2021 internal audit identified weaknesses in record-keeping and stock management practices. Records from Ridge PAC, Ghana’s biometric passport production partner, showed discrepancies between passport booklet numbers supplied to the Mission and those recorded by the Embassy. These discrepancies were a key point of concern.
The internal review also found that the Mission was holding excessive stocks of biometric passport booklets, increasing the risk of theft or misuse, and that the mission was attempting to cover up a possible manipulation of passport records.
Despite the audit, the Embassy could not provide a complete account of passport stock management between 2016 and 2025. Management was unable to explain how blank biometric passport booklets came into Mr. Kwarteng’s custody or why earlier recommendations on inventory control had not been implemented.
Inside Fred Kwarteng’s Office,
However, during the subsequent audit by the Auditor-General, the Embassy could not provide a complete account of passport stock management between 2016 and 2025. Management was also unable to explain how blank biometric passport booklets came into Mr. Kwarteng’s custody or why earlier recommendations on inventory control had not been implemented.
The possession of blank passport booklets and visa stickers became more significant because Mr. Kwarteng also provided visa and passport application support services through a private company whose website he directed traffic to from the official Ghana Embassy website in Washington, D.C.
The circumstances surrounding the materials found in his office, the audit noted, “presuppose” that Mr. Kwarteng may have been engaged in fraudulent issuance of passports and visas outside official Embassy processes.
A source who worked at the embassy at the time, however, told Pledge Against Corruption that the auditors’ conclusion may be wrong. The source, who wants to remain anonymous, explained that Fred Kwarteng often liaised with printers of Ghana’s passport booklets, so there was a time when some errors occurred during the printing process, resulting in discrepancies in serial numbers. When some passport booklets whose serial numbers had been duplicated could no longer be used, those may still have been in Mr. Kwarteng’s office during the audit inspection.
A forensic examination of 15 empty passport booklets retrieved during the investigation confirmed that they were genuine Ghana passport stock.
The booklets contained standard security features, including Supreme Court watermarks, UV-responsive elements featuring the Parliament House, Coat of Arms and Fawohodie symbol, as well as micro-text reading "Republic of Ghana."
Seven of the 15 booklets examined had security deficiencies on their biodata pages. The identified defects included the absence of polycarbonate overlay, missing thermochromic print, missing Optical Variable Ink (OVI), irregular Machine-Readable Zone (MRZ) alignment, and cancellation markings.
Beyond the passport materials, the auditors also uncovered what appeared to be attempts to conceal digital records in Kwarteng’s office. The desktop computer assigned to him was found without an internal Solid-State Drive (SSD), the component responsible for storing files and system information. Physical inspection showed that the primary storage device had been removed, leaving the computer without its internal storage medium.
The audit report said, “Examination of the office environment revealed signs of disruption and disorder consistent with a hurried removal of equipment and documents.”
The auditors also recovered multiple electronic devices and storage media associated with Mr. Kwarteng’s office, including six used SATA hard drives, Dell Latitude, MacBook Pro and Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, an iPad tablet, Samsung and iPhone mobile devices, and RAM modules.
The removal of the SSD, combined with the presence of multiple storage devices, created concerns that sensitive consular information may have been copied, removed, altered, or destroyed before the inspection.
The audit report said, “Examination of the office environment revealed signs of disruption and disorder consistent with a hurried removal of equipment and documents.”
The audit report said, “Examination of the office environment revealed signs of disruption and disorder consistent with a hurried removal of equipment and documents.”
The auditors’ conclusion may be wrong.
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Source: MyJoyOnline
