Auditor General Deodat Sharma has declared that the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars by the Guyana Lotteries Commission cannot be verified given the absence of financial statements for the years 2015 to 2017.
The 2017 Auditor General’s report, which was presented to the National Assembly last month, noted that the last set of audited accounts was for the year 2013 and at the time of the current report, the Audit Office was awaiting the signed financial statement for the year 2014 to finalise the audit. “However, financial statements were not presented for audit for the years 2015 to 2017,” the report highlighted.
It explained that the Government of Guyana and Canadian Bank Note Ltd (CBN) entered into an agreement establishing a Government Lottery, which was organised and conducted under the provisions of the Government Lotteries Act. Under this agreement, CBN is to pay Licence fees equivalent to 24% of gross revenue.