CAG report comes in handy for Finance minister Thomas Isaac

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance and lotteries minister Dr T.M. Thomas Isaac said that the Comptroller and Auditor General had unequivocally stated in 2016 that Mizoram lottery had been conducted violating all established rules and regulations. “The latest agreement Mizoram government has signed with Teesta Distributors is based on the Minimum Guaranteeed Revenue model that the CAG had unambiguously declared as illegal,” Dr Isaac told reporters here on Saturday. “No further proof is required to demonstrate that Mizoram lottery is run in the most illegal manner,” he added.

The minister termed as “incomplete” the letter received from the Mizoram Government on Saturday informing that Teesta Distributors would be the promoter of its lotteries. “As per the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, the organising state should provide details about all the arrangements they have made for the conduct of lotteries in the host state,” Dr Isaac told reporters here on Saturday. “This letter, sent to the Chief Secretary, just mentions the name of the distributor and nothing more,” he added.

According to Dr Isaac, crores of tickets have been imported to the state without satisfying the conditions stipulated in the Rules. “We have the State GST law in place and under this, the promoters of other-state lotteries should provide information about lottery draws every month, the number of tickets printed, their serial number, and should also make arrangements for the physical verification of the details,” the minister said.