…even as AG flags $36.3M paid to league
“If the process, by which public monies are supposed to be legally spent, continues to be intercepted then we are going to continue to have an accounting chaos on our hands.”-Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran
The country’s Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, has flagged in his latest report. $36.3M which was pumped into the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) owned Dr.Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Kaieteur News also understands that there is currently an invoice before the Ministry of Finance from a CPL agent for the sum of US$500, 000 for 2014.
The AG’s report noted that the last set of audited accounts for the Guyana Lotteries Fund shows that the $36.3M was expended in the CPL for 2013.
It also shows that the Ministry of Culture received for Mashramani and other activities a total of $200.5 million, while the Guyana Tourism Authority received $13.8 million.
The AG noted in his report that the Fund was established in August 1996 by the decision of the former Cabinet which managed the account.
Under the previous administration, Sharma said that the Cabinet was expected to also ensure that amounts expended are within the National Sector and are in accordance with the guidelines for access to the lottery funding, which includes funding for activities that promotes cultural and youth and sport development, medical treatment overseas and support for disadvantaged groups, among others.
The Guyana Lotteries Commission is subject to separate financial reporting and auditing.
But this expenditure into the CPL has not found favour with many local financial minds, including Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.
He said that the monies pumped into CPL from the Lotteries Fund goes against proper accounting procedures.
He opined that the Fund holds taxpayers monies which belong to the Consolidated Fund. He added that moves will be made to ensure that this is corrected.
The Finance Minister noted that the AG report did not say what this money was used for but he has vowed to get to the bottom of it. He said that the AG was correct in flagging it in his 2013 report.
“We will have to find out who authorized this money to go to CPL,” Jordan added.
Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, is also against the expenditure which was not subject to any parliamentary oversight.
The Chartered Accountant said that it is a license fee which belongs in the Consolidated Fund. He stressed that there should not be any other “parallel treasury”. The National Assembly is the only organ which the right to decide on how taxpayers’ monies should be spent, he said.
Goolsarran said that if the process by which public monies are supposed to be legally spent, continues to be intercepted then “we are going to continue to have an accounting chaos on our hands.”
He said that the Lotteries Fund being held outside of the Consolidated Fund and being expended without any form of oversight constitutes “disrespect and disregard for the legislative arm.”
The Lotteries Fund is currently the subject of a forensic audit. The previous administration and the Granger government had been at loggerheads over this matter for years.
Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, had said repeatedly that the court had ruled that the PPP/C had not acted unconstitutionally by not placing the proceeds from the Lotto Fund into the Consolidated Fund.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Tenth Parliament had instructed the Auditor General to seek “independent” legal advice with regard to the controversial fund.
Former Chairman of the Committee, Carl Greenidge, had said that the legal advice, should be outside of those given by Nandlall.
“He (Sharma) was told to get independent advice, because the advice given before was by the Attorney General and it was not appropriate because the AG advises the Cabinet, not the Auditor General,” Greenidge had said.
The former PAC Chairman held the firm belief that the Lotto Funds and others should be paid into the Consolidated Fund, “because these aren’t bodies established under the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act which allow establishment of extra budgetary agencies.”
“It is not established for them to keep the money out of the fund.”
Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, in a letter back in January 13, 2013 had said that Nandlall gave his own interpretation on the decision handed down by Justice Diane Insanally in the case of Desmond Trotman versus Attorney General, popularly known as the Lotto Funds case.
Nandlall claimed that Justice Insanally decided the case on its merit, finding that “the deposit of the monies in the Development Fund of Guyana (Lotto Fund) is in accordance with Article 216 of the Constitution, the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and the Lotteries Act, thereby vindicating the Government’s position.” The truth cannot be more different, Ram contended in his letter.
The action, he reminded, was initiated in April 2010 by Desmond Trotman, a political activist and now Member of Parliament for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). Essentially, Trotman asked the Court through his Attorneys, Miles Fitzpatrick, S.C and Christopher Ram, whether the share of the revenue received by the Government from the Guyana Lottery Company Limited, a private company incorporated under the Companies Act 1991, is required to be paid into the Consolidated Fund in accordance with Article 216 of the Constitution and Sections 21 and 38 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003.
He also asked whether as a consequence, the expenditure by the Government of the money without the authority of Parliament, is unconstitutional and illegal.
On June 2, 2010, Ashton Chase S.C. and Pauline Chase, on behalf of the Attorney General did not respond to the issues raised but instead asked the Court to strike out the plaintiff’s action on the following grounds: a) that the action failed to comply with the rules of the High Court; b) that Trotman had shown no right, legal or equitable, to seek any order by the Court; and c) that Trotman used the wrong procedure.
On December 28, 2012, Justice Insanally, in a brief hearing in Chambers, delivered her decision on the arguments, ruling against Trotman on the procedural points, but not on the merits of the case.
Subsequent efforts by Counsel, Ram said, to obtain a copy of the decision were unsuccessful, prompting Miles Fitzpatrick SC, to write the Judge requesting a written decision.
Through his Attorneys, Trotman has appealed the decision of the Court.
Greenidge had subsequently written a lengthy statement in 2013 saying that he has no view to offer on the decision of the judge in the absence of a written explanation of the logic of the decision.
“I am little surprised by it however,” the politician stated.
He had said that the difficulty is not with the acceptability of the fund under the Constitution or the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, but with its administration.
In the case of the Lotto fund, over the decade 1996 to 2006 alone, Greenidge said that some $3B of revenues has still to be accounted for.
He said that the National Assembly is still awaiting the reports and audited accounts from the government for the use of the millions of dollars of funds associated with the2005 floods, the Cricket World Cup, the hosting of Carifesta X and the ICC Twenty/20 tournament.
AFC Chairman, Nigel Hughes, had also spoken on the issue stating that the Lotto Fund case was dismissed on a procedural point.
“The Court dismissed the case on a preliminary point…the issue on whether or not the Lotto Funds should go into the Consolidated Fund is still unanswered and undetermined.”
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....eeks-100m-from-govt/
“If the process, by which public monies are supposed to be legally spent, continues to be intercepted then we are going to continue to have an accounting chaos on our hands.”-Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran
The country’s Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma, has flagged in his latest report. $36.3M which was pumped into the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) owned Dr.Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Kaieteur News also understands that there is currently an invoice before the Ministry of Finance from a CPL agent for the sum of US$500, 000 for 2014.
The AG’s report noted that the last set of audited accounts for the Guyana Lotteries Fund shows that the $36.3M was expended in the CPL for 2013.
It also shows that the Ministry of Culture received for Mashramani and other activities a total of $200.5 million, while the Guyana Tourism Authority received $13.8 million.
The AG noted in his report that the Fund was established in August 1996 by the decision of the former Cabinet which managed the account.
Under the previous administration, Sharma said that the Cabinet was expected to also ensure that amounts expended are within the National Sector and are in accordance with the guidelines for access to the lottery funding, which includes funding for activities that promotes cultural and youth and sport development, medical treatment overseas and support for disadvantaged groups, among others.
The Guyana Lotteries Commission is subject to separate financial reporting and auditing.
But this expenditure into the CPL has not found favour with many local financial minds, including Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.
He said that the monies pumped into CPL from the Lotteries Fund goes against proper accounting procedures.
He opined that the Fund holds taxpayers monies which belong to the Consolidated Fund. He added that moves will be made to ensure that this is corrected.
The Finance Minister noted that the AG report did not say what this money was used for but he has vowed to get to the bottom of it. He said that the AG was correct in flagging it in his 2013 report.
“We will have to find out who authorized this money to go to CPL,” Jordan added.
Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, is also against the expenditure which was not subject to any parliamentary oversight.
The Chartered Accountant said that it is a license fee which belongs in the Consolidated Fund. He stressed that there should not be any other “parallel treasury”. The National Assembly is the only organ which the right to decide on how taxpayers’ monies should be spent, he said.
Goolsarran said that if the process by which public monies are supposed to be legally spent, continues to be intercepted then “we are going to continue to have an accounting chaos on our hands.”
He said that the Lotteries Fund being held outside of the Consolidated Fund and being expended without any form of oversight constitutes “disrespect and disregard for the legislative arm.”
The Lotteries Fund is currently the subject of a forensic audit. The previous administration and the Granger government had been at loggerheads over this matter for years.
Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, had said repeatedly that the court had ruled that the PPP/C had not acted unconstitutionally by not placing the proceeds from the Lotto Fund into the Consolidated Fund.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Tenth Parliament had instructed the Auditor General to seek “independent” legal advice with regard to the controversial fund.
Former Chairman of the Committee, Carl Greenidge, had said that the legal advice, should be outside of those given by Nandlall.
“He (Sharma) was told to get independent advice, because the advice given before was by the Attorney General and it was not appropriate because the AG advises the Cabinet, not the Auditor General,” Greenidge had said.
The former PAC Chairman held the firm belief that the Lotto Funds and others should be paid into the Consolidated Fund, “because these aren’t bodies established under the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act which allow establishment of extra budgetary agencies.”
“It is not established for them to keep the money out of the fund.”
Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram, in a letter back in January 13, 2013 had said that Nandlall gave his own interpretation on the decision handed down by Justice Diane Insanally in the case of Desmond Trotman versus Attorney General, popularly known as the Lotto Funds case.
Nandlall claimed that Justice Insanally decided the case on its merit, finding that “the deposit of the monies in the Development Fund of Guyana (Lotto Fund) is in accordance with Article 216 of the Constitution, the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act and the Lotteries Act, thereby vindicating the Government’s position.” The truth cannot be more different, Ram contended in his letter.
The action, he reminded, was initiated in April 2010 by Desmond Trotman, a political activist and now Member of Parliament for A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). Essentially, Trotman asked the Court through his Attorneys, Miles Fitzpatrick, S.C and Christopher Ram, whether the share of the revenue received by the Government from the Guyana Lottery Company Limited, a private company incorporated under the Companies Act 1991, is required to be paid into the Consolidated Fund in accordance with Article 216 of the Constitution and Sections 21 and 38 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003.
He also asked whether as a consequence, the expenditure by the Government of the money without the authority of Parliament, is unconstitutional and illegal.
On June 2, 2010, Ashton Chase S.C. and Pauline Chase, on behalf of the Attorney General did not respond to the issues raised but instead asked the Court to strike out the plaintiff’s action on the following grounds: a) that the action failed to comply with the rules of the High Court; b) that Trotman had shown no right, legal or equitable, to seek any order by the Court; and c) that Trotman used the wrong procedure.
On December 28, 2012, Justice Insanally, in a brief hearing in Chambers, delivered her decision on the arguments, ruling against Trotman on the procedural points, but not on the merits of the case.
Subsequent efforts by Counsel, Ram said, to obtain a copy of the decision were unsuccessful, prompting Miles Fitzpatrick SC, to write the Judge requesting a written decision.
Through his Attorneys, Trotman has appealed the decision of the Court.
Greenidge had subsequently written a lengthy statement in 2013 saying that he has no view to offer on the decision of the judge in the absence of a written explanation of the logic of the decision.
“I am little surprised by it however,” the politician stated.
He had said that the difficulty is not with the acceptability of the fund under the Constitution or the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, but with its administration.
In the case of the Lotto fund, over the decade 1996 to 2006 alone, Greenidge said that some $3B of revenues has still to be accounted for.
He said that the National Assembly is still awaiting the reports and audited accounts from the government for the use of the millions of dollars of funds associated with the2005 floods, the Cricket World Cup, the hosting of Carifesta X and the ICC Twenty/20 tournament.
AFC Chairman, Nigel Hughes, had also spoken on the issue stating that the Lotto Fund case was dismissed on a procedural point.
“The Court dismissed the case on a preliminary point…the issue on whether or not the Lotto Funds should go into the Consolidated Fund is still unanswered and undetermined.”
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....eeks-100m-from-govt/
