Lotto funds spending covered by law -Dr Luncheon Stabroek News October 12, 2000 The Office of the President is contending that the legislation under which the Guyana Lottery Company games are being operated does not provide for its proceeds to be paid into the Consolidated Fund. Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, told Stabroek News yesterday that the law recognised the lottery as a government-operated lottery. Canadian Bank Note (CBN), which runs the lottery, manages the operation on behalf of the government, according to Dr Luncheon. "CBN manages a government-owned and controlled lottery." The Government Lotteries Act (Chap 80:07) at Section 7(1) states: "all monies received from the sale of tickets in every government lottery shall be paid into a deposit account in the Accountant General's Department and such account shall be called the Government Lotteries Account." The government's critics say that the money should have been deposited in the Consolidated Fund, expenditure from which has to be approved by the National Assembly. Section 7(2) of the act provides that "where the money in the Lotteries Account is insufficient to meet either wholly or in part, the payment of prizes in respect of the government lottery or any charges connected therewith the deficit shall be made good out of the Consolidated Fund which is hereby charged with such payment." The government's use of the funds from its 24% share of the lottery games revenue for the President's Youth Choice Initiative has come in for heavy criticism from the opposition political parties as well as Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran. President Bharrat Jagdeo met Goolsarran earlier this week on the issue. Dr Luncheon said when he met Goolsarran, President Jagdeo "reiterated to him the government's commitment to be accountable for all its expenditure." He said that it was understood that "the provisions of the Financial Administration and Audit Act would be used to address that." Dr Luncheon explained that this information should have been given to media whom he briefed earlier in the week. At a press conference yesterday, Opposition leader, Desmond Hoyte, charged that the $11.06 million expended on the presidential youth conferences in Regions One, Two, Three, Five, Six, Seven and Ten were unauthorised. He cited in support of this contention a letter to Dr Luncheon from Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Labour, Doorga Persaud, seeking reimbursement for the amount from the lottery Fund. However Dr Luncheon told Stabroek News that Persaud had been authorised to provide the $11.06 million for the conferences. He explained that Persaud's letter was part of the consultation process he had put in place for the permanent secretaries, in their capacity as accounting officers, to raise issues and report their concerns. He explained, too, that the regulations now provide for funds allocated for one programme to be used for another under the 'Change of Programme' procedure. He said that the 'Change of Programme' procedure provides the accounting officers with the flexibility to move funds from one programme to the next. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today