Registrar of the Scholarship Secretariat, Kwaku Asafo-Agyei, reveals investigations are far advanced to arrest and prosecute persons alleged to have taken bribes for government scholarships.

According to him, some beneficiaries paid up to ten thousand pounds to benefit from the free scholarships under the previous administration.

Security agencies have since taken over investigations as they pick up important leads to aid the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.

Mr. Asafo-Adjei says auditing of the scheme continues to reveal more damning revelations.

“I have spoken to some students who have admitted to buying and paying money for the scholarship. Some are alleged to have paid ten thousand pounds. Some of the students have volunteered to give evidence as prosecution witnesses,” he said.

Mr. Asafo-Agyei added, “I am also doing an audit of the entire UK scholarship regime”.

We have made some very damning discoveries.

Speaking on Luv FM, the registrar said some fraudulent award letters have been issued even under his tenure.

According to him, he has been able to secure some award letters dated March this year, which don’t have his signature, though he assumed office in January.

“Upon assumption of office, I changed letterheads with some more advanced security features,” he said.

“They didn’t know if they knew, they could have cloned it to legitimize what they were doing,” he added.

The Secretariat has teamed up with the security agencies in readiness to act on information from the public.

According to Mr. Asafo-Agyei, persons who impersonate him to solicit bribes for scholarships should be reported to the appropriate quarters.

“I don’t have any third-party agreement with any individual. Even if the person is my personal assistant, I haven’t assigned him for such dealings. Scholarship is free,” he added.

This, he says, can be reported to the police or the Secretariat via WhatsApp number 0559285646.

“I don’t have any third-party agreement with any individual. Even if the person is my personal assistant, I haven’t assigned him for such dealings. Scholarship is free,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Secretariat has indicated that it has turned its attention towards settling debts owed to institutions in the diaspora.

He says the issues of the stipend will be addressed later once all the debts have been offset.