PPP engaged CPL in ad hoc manner –says Govt spokesperson

Jul 11, 2015 News

-reassures CPL CEO of continued support from Granger administration but in a legally sound manner
The government told Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Damien O’Donohoe, that the ad hoc manner with which the previous administration engaged the entity with regard to matches

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon during his meeting with Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) Damien O’Donohoe (left)

hosted in Guyana is regrettable.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon vowed that this time around, business will be done differently.
The Minister made this among other remarks during a meeting with O’Donohoe, yesterday, at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Harmon told O’Donohoe that the government would be prepared to take the requisite steps to ensure that a structured and legally sound, Cabinet approved agreement is in place.
He said, too, that Government is prepared to commence negotiations in this regard, at the earliest opportunity.
Harmon assured O’Donohoe that the government will commit to ensuring that all the usual exemptions and concessions for the hosting of international cricket in Guyana will be granted to the CPL for the hosting of the matches in the ongoing tournament.
He said, “Guyana is not only a cricket loving country but a cricket crazy country so we have every reason to welcome the CPL back to Guyana. I want to reaffirm the government’s full support for the CPL specifically, and cricket in general,”
The Minister of State added, “We are aware that the franchise owner of the Guyana Amazon Warriors is a close associate of the previous administration. However we can assure that that will not in any way, hamper how the current administration treats with the CPL and the franchise owner in terms of facilitating the games being hosted in Guyana and our future engagement.”
Meanwhile, 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), of which the local franchise is 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 promote 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 had said that the money pumped into CPL from the Lotteries Fund goes against proper accounting procedures.
He opined that the Fund holds taxpayers money which belongs to the Consolidated Fund. He added that moves will be made to ensure that this is corrected.
The Finance Minister noted that the AG’s 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 licence fee which belongs in the Consolidated Fund. He stressed that there should not be any “parallel treasury”.
The National Assembly is the only organ with 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 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.”
Greenidge said that some $3B of revenues for the decade1996 to 2006 is 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 the 2005 floods, the Cricket World Cup, the hosting of Carifesta X and the ICC Twenty/20 tournament.