Bt30-million lottery plot gets thicker as more Kanchanaburi police transferred

By JESSADA JANTARAK 
THE NATION

 

 

TWO OTHER policemen from Kanchanaburi province were transferred for their allegedly suspicious role in the high-profile dispute over ownership of the winning Bt30-million lottery tickets.

 

Pol Lt-Colonel Chuwit Jaroennak, a deputy superintendent at the Muang Kanchanaburi Police Station, and the station’s deputy inspector, Pol Captain Jirayut Chatcharinkul, were served the orders on Thursday. Three police officers from the province have been transferred so far in the wake of the lottery-cheating scandal. 

 

On Wednesday, Kanchanaburi’s top policeman Commander Pol Maj-General Sutthi Puangpikul was transferred.

 

The transfers have been attributed to available evidence suggesting that Chuwit and Sutthi might have favoured teacher Preecha Kraikruan’s bid to claim the five lottery-winning tickets from retired police lieutenant Charoon Wimul, who had cashed them last November. Jirayut prepared the investigation report on the dispute after close consultation with Chuwit and Sutthi. 

 

Jirayut is quoted as saying Chuwit and Sutthi had ordered him to change the statements of Preecha and his witnesses several times and retroactively dated them in the investigation report to boost their credibility. 

 

The alleged irregularities were exposed after Charoon urged the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) to take over the case from the Kanchanaburi police.

 

Late last year, Preecha had lodged a complaint with Muang Kanchanaburi Police Station against Charoon, accusing him of illegitimately cashing the winning lottery tickets. 

 

Preecha claimed he had bought these lottery tickets from a local vendor and dropped them at a market in Kanchanaburi. Later, Charoon was found to have cashed the big prizes. 

 

Charoon has dismissed Preecha’s claim, insisting had he had bought those tickets. Charoon also complained to police against Preecha for filing a false complaint against him. 

 

The National Police Office has lately assigned the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) to look into the case. 

 

CIB chief Pol Lt-General Thitiraj Nhongharnpitak yesterday refused to reveal the results of his agency’s investigation. “National police Commissioner Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda will announce the results on February 28,” he said. 

 

Thitiraj, so far, has hinted that one side in the dispute had definitely told lies while the other had been honest.

 

National Police Office Inspector-General Pol General Suchat Theerasawat said if the investigation by the CIB implicated any policeman, his office would consider initiating both criminal and disciplinary proceedings. 

 

“If there are grounds to try for criminal offences, the case will be forwarded to the CSD or the Counter-Corruption Division,” he said. 

 

He said evidence suggested Sutthi might have engaged in alleged wrongdoing. A fact-finding committee has not yet been set up to investigate Sutthi only because the CIB has not yet concluded its investigation. 

 

An insider said Preecha had first showed up at the Muang Kanchanaburi Police Station to complain about the lottery tickets on November 2 last year. Preecha later produced two lottery vendors as his witnesses, this source said.

 

According to the source, Jirayut summoned Charoon to the police station on November 28 to negotiate with Preecha. As their negotiations were inconclusive, Chuwit intervened and invited both into his room. Later in the day, Chuwit ordered Jirayut to officially register Preecha’s complaint. 

 

“From that time on, Jirajut had conducted the investigation in consultation with Chuwit. Sutthi also had the investigation report and witnesses in the case sent to his home several times,” the source said. 

 

Inside information revealed Chuwit was the person who had signed the order to freeze Charoon’s bank account. Charoon protested against the order, prompting Chuwit to seek consultation from a local court last December. 

 

“After Chuwit came back from the court, he told Jirayut that he had met a witness who spoke in Preecha’s favour,” an insider said. 

The witness, court official Dussadee Thinthungthong, is a long-time acquaintance of Chuwit.

 

The CIB questioned Dussadee extensively on Thursday. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30339559

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-24

Police being involved in something untoward, i am shocked !!

How can anybody trust the police, when things like this come out.

I'm waiting for the movie to come out   !!  

This saga looks like running longer than The Simpsons! Truly amazing that something so simple can become so complicated, take so much time and still be such a sorry mess.

Take an investigation concerning money, stir in the police and add a bit of delay to 'find' some witnesses and you have the usual plot to enrich the investigator. Thailand as it works best.

Yawn.....

 

Think I might put my hand up and say they are mine, just to throw a spanner in the works as the finale is almost here.....

 

I can just read the headlines: Farang disputes ownership of lottery tickets, claiming that the police took them off him one night when he was drunk.............

 

To be continued.

And the plot thickens, the lour of putting their hands of some of the loot even gets

a high ranking cops to go crazy and forget whey they're there in the first place..

the real faces of the Thai police for all the world to see....

27 minutes ago, ezzra said:

a high ranking cops to go crazy and forget whey they're there in the first place..

No, need for lottery tickets for that to happen.

The well of 'inactive posts' never runs dry.

What amazes me is the blunt openness of the top cop in this case, while the subordinate quickly washes his hands in ordered innocence!!

Give all parties involved a lie detector  test  and see where it goes.

They never say where they are transferred to?  Is it an island in paradise or the the next office cubicle in same police station?

11 hours ago, colinneil said:

Police being involved in something untoward, i am shocked !!

How can anybody trust the police, when things like this come out.

Perhaps, The first step in developing trust is to discuss the bribe, maybe ? 

53 minutes ago, wavemanwww said:

They never say where they are transferred to?  Is it an island in paradise or the the next office cubicle in same police station?

There is a school of thought that says placing criminals altogether in prison just gives them a chance to educate each other in how to commit crimes. I hope these inactive posts are not near to each other.

At the end I think it all comes down to who, out of the two contestants, offers the biggest envelope and to whom it is offered. 

'Thitiraj, so far, has hinted that one side in the dispute had definitely told lies while the other had been honest.'

 

No kidding? 

 

One thing, though, is how did the teacher know where he had dropped the tickets?

This transferred thing is so lame.  If they did something wrong why not fire them?

This story is sounding a lot like the end of Air America.. If anybody remembers that great movie.

Geezer

Where is the inactive post?? On a deserted Island? 

Transferring bad apples to where?  Someplace where more senior bad apples will keep them in line?  Or where they will spoil a good police precinct? 

Seems similar to the Catholic Church.  Except in the future who will be held responsible?