The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has served notice it will soon crack down on the activities of illegal lotto operators in Ghana in a bid to sanitise the industry.
Statistics from the NLA shows that illegal lotto operators currently control 45% of the market share in Ghana, thereby depriving the government of the needed revenue.
Speaking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday (5 April), Awuku alleged that some illegal lotto operators are financing the activities of the two main political parties in Ghana.
“We are going to sign an agreement with the National Signals Bureau and the national security apparatus, to dig deep into the society, go undercover to help arrest and prosecute these people,” he said.
“The problem with the Ghanaian situation is that if you arrest somebody, the person knows somebody – a politician somewhere or an influential person somewhere.
“And I can tell you, when it comes to these illegal operators, they are both financiers of the two main political parties, so once one of them is in your grip, you have this loyal political member calling and talking to you, but this year it’s time to move beyond this ‘I beg, I beg’,” Awuku added.
Listen to Sammi Awuku in the attached audio clip below:
Meanwhile, a staff of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) has been arrested for conniving with unscrupulous persons to engage in illegal activities at the authority.
A combined operation by the National Signals Bureau and the security agencies resulted in the arrest of some suspects and the staff of the NLA.
Addressing the media in Accra on Monday (3 April), the director general of the NLA Sammi Awuku said the board has given approval for a full-scale investigation into revenue losses at the authority.
“Basically, somewhere last year, management realised that we had some unusual transactions on our systems,” he said.
“So, something happened last year which triggered us to have a second look at it, and together with our team from legal, we petitioned the National Signals Bureau to try and monitor these activities.
“Two of these people were arrested in some remote parts of the country and upon further interrogation, they also named their collaborator who happened to be a staff of NLA. So, the security apparatus subsequently arrested that staff, and the staff is in custody assisting with investigations,” Awuku said.
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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