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Aug 12, 2008 News
…in contravention of Fiscal Management and Accountability Act
The Auditor-General’s Report of 2006 has recommended to the Ministry of Finance that it takes appropriate measures to close a bank account that currently holds the Government’s 24 per cent proceeds of the Guyana Lotteries and ensure that it is paid over directly to the Consolidated Fund.
This, according to the report, would be in accordance with Section 21 (1) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act, which states that all budget agency receipts shall be credited to the Consolidated Fund.
Previous Auditor-General reports have highlighted the ministry’s failure to pay over the Government’s share of 24 per cent of the proceeds of the Guyana Lotteries to the Consolidated Fund.
Instead, such proceeds were paid into a special bank account, and were used to meet public expenditures without Parliamentary approval.
The report documents that, during the period 1996 to 2006, amounts totalling $2.950B were received from the Guyana Lotteries Company and were deposited into the special account.
The balance on the account at the end of 2006 was $74.622M, which means that some $2.875B was expended during that period.
Of that figure, $424.898M was spent in 2006 on expenditures such as preparation for Cricket World Cup and payments to the Government Information Agency for public viewing of FIFA World Cup Football, among other things.
The Auditor-General also reported that Current revenues were also understated, given that monies held in the Government of Guyana OMAI royalties account were also not paid over to the Consolidated Fund.
At the end of 2006 the account reflected a balance of $41.954M, and the Auditor- General recommended that the account be closed and all revenues relating to royalties be paid directly into the Consolidated Fund.
Discrepancies
Another discrepancy identified in the Auditor- General’s Report as it relates to the Finance Ministry was the documenting of loans as against what was recorded in the Public Debt Statement (PBS).
According to the Auditor- General: “Significant differences continued to be observed between the amounts show as receipts in respect of external loans on the statement of receipt and disbursement and those recorded in the public statement.”
As it relates to loans from the Caribbean Development Bank, it was noted that the PBS reflected an amount in excess of $2.6B but the revenue statement was in excess of $8.6B, which reflected a difference of almost $6B.
There were several others listed, such as monies from India and IFAD, among others.
The audit office recommended to the Ministry that it takes appropriate measures to ensure that the Public Debt register is updated at the time disbursements of loan proceeds are made, and to reconcile the entries in the register with confirmations received from loan agencies.
It was also noted that there continued to be insufficient documentary evidence to support refunds to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) with respect to the Rice Levy A. This levy relates to the exporting of rice to the European Union.
Importers benefit from a levy reduction if documentary evidence can be produced that a corresponding amount has been paid to the authorities in Guyana.
As the rice levy cheques are received from GRDB, the Accountant-General issues corresponding cheques to the GRDB.
During 2006, some $1.031B was paid to GRDB to allow for Rice Levy A to be paid in as current revenue, as provided for in the Estimates.
The Report also indicated that, during 2006, amounts totalling $462.757M were expended to meet the cost of operations of the State Planning Secretariat, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, Statistical Bureau, and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
CANU, a department within the Ministry of Finance, continued to inappropriately have its operations financed under “contributions to local organisations.”
This unit, according to the Report, is not a separate legal entity, and this arrangement has resulted in, firstly, employment costs and other charges not being categorised and shown in the Appropriations Account in the traditional manner, thereby distorting the true costs involved in respect of these two areas.
It added that the present arrangement facilitates the circumvention of the application of the Government’s pay scales, as employees of this unit enjoy enhanced compensation packages, instead of the approved Government rates.
The Report continued that CANU, which was established to protect the Customs revenues, is still not operating under the direction of the Commissioner of the Customs and Trade Administration.
“This arrangement does not provide for proper financial and administrative control, and is not in conformity with the applicable Customs laws and regulations.”
The Auditor-General subsequently recommended again that the Ministry of Finance cease to fund the operations of CANU from subsidies and contributions to local organisations and create specific programmes under the existing programme budgeting arrangements in respect of this department.
The Auditor-General also recommended that the Ministry of Finance takes appropriate measures to transfer the operations of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit to the Customs and Trade Administration.
The Report also noted that the State Planning Commission, which was to have been dissolved several years ago and its operations transferred to the Ministry of Finance, continued to be in existence and has the status of a separate legal entity.
In addition, for the period under review (2006), the State Planning Secretariat had an actual staffing of 65 persons.
However, only 35 officers were attached to it, and the remaining 30 officers were attached to various departments within the Ministry of Finance and other ministries/departments, and were not involved in the work of the State Planning Secretariat although their emoluments were met from the State Planning payroll. “Further, the last set of audited accounts of the Commission was in respect of 1991.”
The Auditor-General recommended that the Ministry of Finance takes steps to formally dissolve the State Planning Commission and to produce financial statements for the period 1992-2006 for audit examination.
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