The Criminal Court on Monday sentenced school teacher Preecha Kraikruan and a woman lottery vendor each to six months in prison for falsely claiming ownership of another person's lottery tickets that won a 30-million-baht prize.
The court earlier heard that from Nov 2-28, 2017, Preecha and Ratanaporn Supatip told police in Kanchanaburi province that Preecha bought five first-prize-winning lottery tickets, number 533726, from Ratanaporn and later dropped and lost the tickets.
The five tickets were for the Nov 1, 2017, draw and each won 6 million baht.
The tickets were cashed in by retired police lieutenant Jaroon Wimool, 70. Preecha and Ratanaporn later accused him of theft of the tickets.
Prosecutors said that Preecha did not own the lottery tickets and the defendants' false claim unfairly put the retired policeman at risk of criminal punishment. They had lied.
The Criminal Court found Preecha, 58, and Ratanaporn, 66, guilty as charged and on Monday sentenced them each to one-year's imprisonment. It then halved the term because they had both eventually confessed to the crime.
In 2024, Preecha was sentenced by the Kanchanaburi Provincial Court to two years in jail for falsely accusing Pol Lt Jaroon of stealing the tickets.
Preecha and Ratanaporn were arrested in 2018. During his past legal battle Preecha, then a teacher of Buddhism, frequently told reporters “Truth is truth" when they asked him about the facts behind the lottery saga.
The prize was unlocked and returned to the retired policeman in 2020.
Both were later released after posting 50,000 baht bail each.
