Indian Finance Minister denied allegations regarding the conduct of online lottery

Indian Government denies claims of online lottery corruption

As reported by the Hindu Times, India’s Finance Minister, K. Sankaranarayanan, on Tuesday denied allegations against the Advocate-General and Government pleader regarding the conduct of online lottery cases in the High Court of Kerala. The allegations claim the government conspired with online lottery companies to allow them to default on payment of Rs. 5,700 crores (US$126.13) in sales tax. The Finance Minister though stated the lottery tickets worth Rs. 6,000 crore including online lotteries were being sold in the State, hence they could not be collected as tax. On the other hand, opposition leader, V. S. Achuthanandan said that “normally courts would insist on payment of at least a portion of the defaulted amount. However, the government pleader handling the case unilaterally took the position that the company need make the payment only sometime later. The pleader could not have done so without of the support of the Government.”Mr. Achuthanandan added that the stay on the operation of the Government ban on online lotteries in the State was still in force, as the Government had done “nothing to get it vacated.”