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The drawing of fuel and other allowances is a normal practice in any business setup, but the quantum of money being paid as allowances to the directors of the National Lottery Authority (NLA) has raised eyebrows, especially, when the company has come under public scrutiny over alleged dubious transactions going on there. A stakeholder (name withheld), who was alarmed over the way public money was being squandered, wrote a letter documenting the alleged malpractices going on at the NLA, and sent it to then President Mills, but apparently, the letter was blocked from getting to him. President Mahama has already ordered investigations into the alleged input of fake draw numbers into the data system, and cashing the face value of the coupons purported to have won the drawn numbers. Mr. Kojo Andah, Director General of the NLA, has been asked by the Office of the President to take his accumulated leave in what is believed to be a journey of no return, as he has been asked to report to the Ministry of Finance for re-assignment after his leave. He has, however, not been implicated in any of the shady deals at the NLA. The Chronicle has been told that Mr. Andah is not going to be the only casualty, as all the board members are likely to be asked by President Mahama to step aside upon the receipt of the full report on the investigation he has ordered into the operations of the NLA. But, as President Mahama waits for the report, the earlier one done by the stakeholder, and submitted to his predecessor, John Atta Mills, but which was reportedly blocked from getting to him, indicates that a number of decisions were taken by the management, which raised question marks about its true intention. The report, for instance, noted that whilst the NLA had a fleet of cars to carry on with courier services, the process was abandoned and a courier company contracted at a whopping sum of GH�30,000 per month, which runs up to GH�360,000 a year. Despite the fact that the company has enough security to police its activities, a private security firm was also contracted and paid between GH�15,000 and GH�180,000 per month, for reasons that beat the understanding of the workers. One of the directors was also alleged to have purchased water tankers and was supplying water to the NLA for a fee, at the time water from the Ghana Water Company was flowing at offices adjacent to the NLA. The report further noted that the directors were allocated two official vehicles � one Land Cruiser and Toyota Camry. �An amount of �5 million (total �10 million) is allocated to the vehicle for fuel, making a total of �40 million (4 directors) a month, even if the vehicles are not used. �Through dubious means, a contract was signed with a company to clean the whole NLA at a cost of �130 million per month, whereas if our boys/girls desperate for work, and even 40 people are engaged and paid �2 million a month � totalling �80 million, NLA would have saved �50 million a month, �600 million a year,� the report noted. �Now it is disgusting to note that there are 6 draws a week by NLA (Monday � Saturday). The directors and board members receive GH�100 a day (�1 million) as DRAW Allowances, making �6 million a week, and �24 million month, besides their very high salaries,� the report further noted. According to the stakeholder, some of the directors were earning GH�8,300 a month, but the figure was increased to GH�12,000, upon a 20% upward adjustment of the salaries, yet they were taking these huge allowances. The Ministry of Finance, who has oversight responsibility over the NLA, has refused to comment on the development going on and being reported by the media. An official source contacted last week by The Chronicle noted that since the presidency had taken over investigations into the alleged malpractices at the department, they would not comment on the issues until the presidency comes out with its report.