-Auditor General finds
Over a thirteen year period, the government has spent over $3 billion of the proceeds acquired from the Guyana Lotteries Company without parliamentary consent, since money was never deposited into the Consolidated Fund as legally required.
The latest Auditor General report 2008 has once again highlighted the government’s failure to pay over its proceeds from the Guyana Lotteries to the Consolidated Fund, in keeping with the Financial Management and Accountability Act.
According to the report, government’s share of 24% of the proceeds of Guyana Lotteries to the Consolidated Fund were paid into a special bank account and were used to meet public expenditure without Parliamentary approval. These sums amounted to $3.283 billion. The Auditor General noted that this matter had been mentioned in previous reports but that no action was taken to correct the problem.
In response, the Finance Ministry said that “a policy decision is required on this matter.” The Audit Office has recommended that the Ministry of Finance take appropriate measures to comply with Section 38 (1) of the FMA Act by immediately ensuring that the balance in bank account No 3119 is transferred to the Consolidated Fund and that thereafter, future Government shares of the proceeds of the Guyana Lotteries are paid directly to the Consolidated Fund.
According to the report from 1996 to 2008, “amounts totaling $3.283 billion were received from the Guyana Lotteries Company and deposited into account No. 3119.” At the end of 2008, the balance on this account was $186.508 million, which meant that the government has so far spent $3.097 billion of the money they received during the period in question. According to the report, a total of $41.707 million was utilized to meet expenditure for 2008. The Auditor General noted that $20 million was spent to acquire a steel band for the Joint Services while some $19,374,000 was spent by the Culture Ministry to facilitate to visit of Indian Cultural groups to Guyana, funding for the 2008 Independence Anniversary Celebrations, the 2008 Inter-Guyana Games and the President Youth award. A further $1,959,000 was spent on the President Youth Choice Initiative while $374,000 was used to provide stipends to members”.
The Auditor General said that the “last set of audited accounts of the Guyana Lottery Commission was for the year 2006.” The Audit Office has since received accounts for the years 2007 and 2008 and these audits are in progress, the report said.
