THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Teacher prevails over ex-cop in high-profile lottery winnings row

Teacher prevails over ex-cop in high-profile lottery winnings row

REGIONAL POLICE yesterday concluded that a teacher was the legitimate owner of a Bt30-million lottery prize, not a retired police officer who contested the ownership of the winning tickets.

Retired police lieutenant Charoon Wimul will be summoned and charged with embezzlement or receipt of stolen items, said Pol Lt-General Kittipong Ngaomuk, commander of the 7th Region.
Kittipong, the chief investigator in the case, made the revelation in a packed press conference yesterday, ending months of speculation about who really owned the winning tickets. 
Kittipong said he would soon submit the evidence and findings to public prosecutors for further action.
Asked when the case would be submitted, Kittipong said it depended on the number of Charoon’s witnesses. 
Kittipong said the conclusion that teacher Preecha Kraikruan was the owner of the tickets was based on interviews with a vendor, who confirmed she had sold one of three sets of tickets with the same number to Preecha. 
He added that police had interviewed a witness who had asked Preecha to sell some of the tickets to her.
Meanwhile, charges against Charoon of embezzlement and receiving stolen items were based on witness accounts that claimed they had seen Charoon picking up tickets from the road.
He also failed to identify the vendor who he claimed had sold him the tickets.
When asked whether the witness accounts were reliable, Kittipong said they could be regarded as being so and police did not have any suspicions to the contrary. There were not any indications that they had been threatened, he added.
The controversy over the real owner of the winning tickets hit media headlines after Preecha, a teacher in Kanchanaburi province, complained to police that he had bought and lost five tickets in October that won the jackpot in the November 1 draw.
He told police and the media that his own investigation showed that the winnings had already been collected. He did not name Charoon but police later found that the former officer had cashed in the tickets.
The dispute grabbed national headlines, prompting the national police chief to assign Kittipong to lead the investigation.
Kittipong told reporters that he had not seen a video clip that reportedly showed Charoon picking up the tickets, saying police had witnesses who claimed they had seen the incident.
He added that the police review of security camera footage in the area found nothing, partly because the incident occurred a long time ago. 
Referring to a claim by the teacher that he had the video footage, Kittingpong said he was not sure that such footage existed.
“The next step is that we will issue a summons for Charoon to acknowledge a charge of embezzlement or receiving stolen items. Charoon has not yet presented to police the names and addresses of his three witnesses to back up his claim of ownership,” he said.
Police had concluded the case according to the evidence and witnesses, Kittipong said, adding that their findings could change if more evidence becomes available.

RELATED
nationthailand