According to the reports, embassy personnel set up unauthorised fee structures for standard consular services such as passport renewals and visa applications. How staff of the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC, allegedly shared the $19.4m extorted from applicants. Source: UGCPassport and visa applicants were compelled to pay rates far above the official government charges, with the surplus deliberately kept off state financial records. Accountability advocacy groups are demanding an immediate parliamentary investigation, the recall of all implicated diplomatic personnel, and full legal prosecution aimed at recovering the diverted funds. Auditors had identified IT Officer Fred Kwarteng as the primary operator of private external portals used to collect unauthorised charges from applicants.