| …Lotto contributes $3B to national treasuryUnder the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act, “All public monies raised or received by the Government shall be credited fully and promptly to the Consolidated Fund.”Dr Ashni SinghThis,Wholesale MLB Jerseys 2018, however, is not the case as it relates to the billions of dollars the government receives from the proceeds of the Lotto fund. The government receives 24 per cent of every ticket sold. By 2006, the money collected was $2.4 billion.In previous reports,Cheap Jerseys, as well as in the 2007 Auditor General’s report, it was highlighted that the Ministry fails to pay over the Government’s share of 24 per cent of the proceeds of Guyana Lotteries to the Consolidated Fund.Instead, such proceeds were paid into a special bank account and were used to meet public expenditure without Parliamentary approval.According to the report, during the reporting period, no action was taken to pay over the amounts due to the Consolidated Fund.According to the report, the Ministry’s response to the fact that the entity was breaching the law, it responded by indicating that a policy decision is required on this matter. The Audit Office recommends 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 the bank account where the lotto proceeds are placed, is transferred to the Consolidated Fund and that thereafter future Government’s shares of the proceeds of the Guyana Lotteries are paid directly to the Consolidated Fund.The Auditor General also said that at the end of each year, transfers should be made to the Consolidated Fund to the extent of funds utilised from the Lotteries Account. A corresponding supplementary estimate should then be passed in the National Assembly to ensure Parliamentary approval of the expenditure and the recording in the Public Accounts.During the period 1996 and 2007, amounts totalling $3.107 billion were received from the Guyana Lottery Company and deposited into the Ministry’s special Bank Account.According to the report, the Consolidated Fund continued to be understated by a failure to transfer a balance of $41.954M, which exists in the Government of Guyana OMAI Royalties Account.It was static since 2006, indicating that no royalties were received during the current reporting period, nonetheless, the balance on the account should have been paid over to the Consolidated Fund, according to the Auditor General.The Ministry indicated that several letters,Cheap China Jerseys Authentic, as far back as September 22, 2004,Cheap China Jerseys, were sent to the Governor of Bank of Guyana,Stitched NFL Jerseys, requesting that the balance on the account be transferred to the Consolidated Fund, but to date this has not been done.The Audit Office recommended that this account be closed,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, and all revenue relating to royalties be paid directly into the Consolidated FundThere were also instances of the Ministry overpaying contractors as well as failures to recover monies.During its most recent presser, the People’s National Congress Reform, stated that it has already referred to the fact that the recent Auditor General’s report has confirmed that this Administration must be the most corrupt in Guyana’s post independence history.“Not only is it corrupt but it has remained shamelessly unaccountable to the people of Guyana.”It was pointed out that despite several promises, the accounts for Cricket World Cup 2007 have not been submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.“This is a disgrace, given the fact that the World Cup has been over for more than two years.No less disgraceful is the fact that the accounts for the floods in 2005 have not seen the light of day.”The party noted that to compound this unsatisfactory situation, no accounts have been submitted for the hosting of Carifesta X and the Government now has the audacity to undertake the hosting of the ICC World Twenty/20 Cricket in 2011, when it has not accounted for monies spent on other events.The party said that the examples of unaccountability illustrates that this is a Government that does not account and is not prepared to answer to the people of Guyana.“It is clear that the Jagdeo Administration believes that it has a license to spend taxpayers’ money as it sees fit, without being accountable to the Guyanese people.It is this cavalier attitude to the nation’s money that makes it possible for this corrupt Administration to continue placing the proceeds of the Lotto Funds in a private account, rather than in the Consolidated Fund,Jerseys Wholesale, as the law requires.” |
