Moves afoot to settle lotto funds spending controversy - Lumumba Stabroek News October 11, 2000 Efforts are underway to settle the controversy over government's spending of its share of the lotto proceeds in light of the view of the Auditor General that the current method is illegal. Speaking at a press briefing yesterday at the Ministry of Labour boardroom, Ministerial Adviser on Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba told reporters that the matter was at present engaging the attention of the head of state, President Bharrat Jagdeo who was in touch with Auditor General Anand Goolsarran. Lumumba added that a disagreement in interpretation of the law was behind the controversy with the state audit office citing a 1974 Lottery Act in which government was given full control of the entire operation whilst in the present situation the administration was merely receiving 24% of the proceeds from the Guyana Lottery Company. A different arrangement obtained in the present circumstances in that the money allotted to government had to be deposited into the Consolidated Fund before being spent. This is not the case at the moment. Stabroek News in its October 9 edition had reported that the method being used by government to spend funds from its proceeds of the lotto game had been dubbed illegal by Goolsarran and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had called for the practice to be halted immediately. According to Lumumba, every corrective effort would be taken to address the legal and technical issues cited by Goolsarran even if it means going to parliament to facilitate such change. The administration, he added, is keen to demonstrate its willingness to follow democratic principles which he contended is a hallmark of the PPP/Civic administration. Very little information has been forthcoming from the government on the spending of lotto proceeds and the manner on which decisions are made on which ventures will benefit from it. Around $1.3B has already been collected by the government as its share of the lotto proceeds. The press conference was called by Lumumba to report on the progress of the President's Youth Choice Initiative which is being funded by the lotto proceeds. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today