Kofi Tonto Denies Involvement in Alleged $19 Million Fraud at Ghana’s Washington Embassy
Former Head of Information and Public Affairs at Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, USA, Kofi Tonto, has denied any involvement in an alleged fraudulent scheme that reportedly involved $19 million at the diplomatic mission.
In a statement dated Wednesday, August 12, 2026, Mr Tonto said he became aware of publications alleging that he received $800 out of the $19 million allegedly obtained through the scheme.
He stated that the alleged fraud was uncovered following a forensic audit conducted by the Ghana Audit Service into the affairs of the Embassy covering the period 2017 to 2025.
Mr Tonto said he has never been involved in any scheme, nor in the sharing or receipt of any ill-obtained funds. He noted that he has not been named as a person of interest in the said audit report.
According to him, the $800 he received in July 2021 was a lawful payment made to him as a child benefit package following the birth of his daughter in January 2021.
He explained that such payments were standard practice and that the same report indicated that about 28 other staff members also received benefits for various life-changing reasons.
He added that a one-time payment of $800 for a child benefit, which he did not solicit for nor determine the amount or bank account, cannot be used as a basis to falsely implicate him as complicit in the alleged fraudulent scheme.
Mr Tonto further stated that all payments received by him during his tenure from March 2019 to July 2021, including compensations, allowances, benefits and refunds, were received bona fide as a worker through longstanding established processes.
He said he was never involved in decisions relating to the financial management of the Embassy, especially those involving the operation or closure of any bank account.
He urged his family, friends, admirers and the general public to disregard what he described as a distorted narrative being pushed to falsely attribute wrongdoing to him in the matter.
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