Lotto monies for Consolidated Fund

Last Updated on Thursday, 30 July 2015, 11:51 by GxMedia

Minister of Finance Winston Jordan will soon issue an order for the Lotto Fund be paid directly into Guyana’s consolidated fund.

The Government Information Agency (GINA) reported that the announcement was made by Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman today at a post-cabinet media briefing, held at the media centre of the Ministry of the Presidency.

Minister Trotman explained that a simple order emanating from the Finance Minister was the only thing hindering the monies from being paid into the fund.

He added that the administration upon entering office, realized that the Lotto Fund money was placed into a special account which was being used to honour certain expenses from ministries.

Article 216 of the Guyana Constitution states that, ‘all revenues or other moneys raised or received by Guyana shall be paid into and form one Consolidated Fund’. This means that Guyana’s 24% earnings from the Guyana Lottery Company should be so placed. However, this was not done under the previous administration. Failure to pay the said revenues into the Consolidated Fund also contravenes Sections 21 and 38 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003.

The Auditor General’s 2011 Report indicated that $3.214B had been spent from the Lottery Fund for the period 2006 to 2011, and a total of $4.022B was received from the Lottery Company and deposited into account no.3119.

GINA alleged that the previous administration not only contravened the expressed statutory provisions by failing to deposit the said sums into one account, but they failed to conduct their business in a transparent manner, as the monies were spent without the approval of the National Assembly.