Police chief says no to call to replace police team probing lottery controversy

Pol Gen Chakthip Chaijinda, the national police chief, announced Friday (March 23) that he would not replace the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police team handling the investigation of the 30-million baht lottery controversy, saying that the probe was already 100 percent completed.

His announcement was in response to school teacher Preecha Kraikruan who demanded that the police investigating team be replaced.  Mr Preecha also petitioned the Department of Special Investigation to probe the case to ensure fairness to all parties involved.

The national police chief insisted that the police handling the case did not bully or persecute Mr Preecha and challenged the school teacher to file lawsuits against the police inquiry officers if he felt that he was not treated fairly.

Pol Gen Chakthip also maintained that he had never said who is the real owner of the 30-million baht worth of five First Prize lottery tickets between Mr Preecha and retired police officer, PoL Lt Charoon Wimoon.

However, the CSD police team decided to file charges against Mr Preecha and his accomplices who included a lottery vendor, for giving false statements to the police about the lottery tickets.