| The Office of the Auditor General has flagged the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport for not conforming to financial laws and regulations that mandate the placing of revenues into the Consolidated Fund.Former Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Frank AnthonyThe Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has since been consumed by the Ministry of Education. It is now a department within that Ministry. At the time when the account was created, Frank Anthony was the Minister.In his 2015 Report, Auditor General Deodat Sharma stated that the Ministry, before becoming a department, operated a Special Project Bank Account into which funds from various sources such as Guyana National Stadium, refunds to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport, Digicel and the Guyana Lotteries Commission were deposited.Sharma observed that the Ministry continued to “inappropriately” meet unrelated expenditure from that account.The Auditor stated that the bank balance on the account as at 31 December 2014 was $70.297M, while the cash book balance was $64.449M. He said that similarly, in 2015, the bank balance was $11.498M, while the cash book balance was $11.023M. The bank statement balance as at December 2015 was $29.952M.Sharma reported that in 2014, the Ministry deposited revenues to the tune of $25.658M into the Special Project Account instead of the Consolidated Fund. This sum consisted of $23.612M, and $2.046M, which were realized from the rental of the Guyana National Stadium and the sale of the Guyana Classic, respectively.Similarly, in 2015, the Ministry’s project cash book reflected amounts collected as $367.192M and deposited into the project account. Further, Sharma said that this account has never been reconciled, below are details of the collection of revenue.The report stated that while the Ministry said that the monies collected were deposited into the Consolidated Fund, checks carried out by the Audit Office revealed that only the amount of $2.224M from the sale of Guyana Classic was deposited into the Consolidated Fund.In 2015 again, now that the Ministry has become a department,Cheap NFL Jerseys, it was indicated that revenue collected from the sale of Guyana Classic and rental of Guyana National Stadium are being paid into the consolidated fund. The Audit Office recommended that the Ministry take immediate action to ensure all revenues collected are deposited into the Consolidated Fund.Sharma cited another case which is quite similar to the aforementioned. The Auditor General said that during 2013 and 2014, $106.096M which represented unexpended balances on capital and current provisions, was deposited into the Ministry’s special project account.The transfer of the balances was in fact a breach of Section 43 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act 2003, which required all unexpended sums to be refunded to the Consolidated Fund. However, Sharma said that at the time of reporting in September 2016, amounts totaling $99.734M were expended, and the balance of $6.362M was refunded to the Consolidated Fund on 14 September 2016.In response to this, the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport indicated that revenues collected from the sale of Guyana Classic and rental of the Guyana National Stadium are now being paid into the Consolidated Fund. At the time of response, the Ministry said that it is in full compliance with the FMA Act. |
