Lottery ’swindle’ evidence submitted
Atchariya Ruangratanapong, a lawyer and chairman of the Facebook group for assisting crime victims, submitted evidence to police in Samut Sakhon's Khok Kham precinct on Wednesday morning to file charges against at least four accomplices of the controversial lottery vendor Thanawat "Pete" Kamhaengpon.
Meanwhile, provincial police chief Maj General Mana Inpitak said summons have been issued for Thanawat's girlfriend, his younger sister and her friends who helped Thanawat sell lottery tickets at an Ekkachai gas station.
Thanawat, 35, was last week praised as the most honest of lottery vendors for honouring a customer’s purchase of a ticket that won the first prize of Bt90 million even though it had been bought through the Line messaging app.
On Monday, however, he was branded a swindler after it was found that neither the “winning” ticket nor his lucky customer ever existed and police thus laid three charges against him: fraud; violation of the Computer Crime Act and selling overpriced tickets. Thanawat made a tearful public apology for the "prank with friends" photo of him holding a ticket that was digitally manipulated to match the winning numbers, which went viral.
Submitting video and audio clips and photos to police, Atchariya said Thanawat's alleged fraudulent action was done with at least four accomplices, including Thanawat's girlfriend and two other lottery distributors who should be punished too.
Mana said the evidence from Atchariya would be inspected and the police would summon those implicated.
He urged others victims and witnesses to Thanawat's alleged fraud to step forward confidentially.
Meanwhile, Thanawat was brought in front of the provincial court judge to apply for the first 12-day detention order on Wednesday morning.
Besides the initial three charges, police added the charge of document forgery over the lottery ticket photo alteration.
Police objected to his bail on grounds of a risk of tampering with witnesses and evidence.