Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has announced the temporary closure of Ghana's Embassy in Washington DC.

This follows a corruption scandal discovered by the minister involving one Mr. Fred Kwarteng, a local staff member recruited on August 11, 2017, to work in the embassy’s IT department.

The sector minister revealed that according to findings and Mr Kwarteng's admission, he created an unauthorized link on the embassy’s website which diverted visa and passport applicants to his company, Ghana Travel Consultants (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 ranges from US$29.75 to US$60 per applicant.

"The investigations reveal that he and his collaborators operated this illegal scheme for at least 5 years," Mr Ablakwa revealed.

Mr Fred Kwarteng has been fired, and his conduct has been reported to the Attorney-General for possible prosecution and retrieval of funds obtained through fraudulent schemes.

The Auditor-General has been invited to conduct forensic examination of all transactions and to determine the total cost of this fraudulent scheme.

Also, all Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff posted to the Washington embassy have been recalled home with immediate effect.

The embassy’s IT department has been promptly dissolved, and all locally recruited staff at the embassy have been suspended.

The Foreign Minister apologised for "any inconvenience these radical measures may cause visa and passport applicants".

"President Mahama’s government will continue to demonstrate zero tolerance for corruption, naked conflict of interest and blatant abuse of office," the sector minister added.