Panel Says Thailand's Lottery Was Rigged by Phairath Khampha 31 December 2001 A Thai Finance Ministry committee investigating the multi-million baht June 1, 2001 lottery scam said there were sufficient grounds to believe the results were rigged. Chavalit Sethamethikul, deputy finance permanent secretary, said the committee would try to find out who was involved and how. A white substance was found on numbered balls used in the lottery draw. Public prosecutors filed criminal charges against seven suspects in the June government-lottery-fixing case, accusing them of colluding to cheat on the lottery and being members of a criminal gang. Crime Suppression Division police had in November arrested five suspects in connection with the case: Somtrakul Jokkrathok, Kittichart Khunpradit, Narong Unpaet alias Klom Bangkruay, Suriyan Duangkaew alias Phuyai Muek, and Pichai Thep-arak alias Chai Khoksamrong. Two other suspects--Thongsuk Chanakaree and Anant Sukhuang--were still at large. Three of the suspects--Mr Somtrakul, Mr Kittichart and Mr Thongsuk--were on the stage on June 1 to draw the numbered balls from partially transparent bowls. Director suspended The director of the Government Lottery Office (GLO) was suspended from duty pending an investigation into the fixing of results of the lottery, Permanent Secretary for Finance Somchainuk Engtrakul said. Somchainuk said Chaiwat Pasokpakdee, the GLO director, was made an adviser to the GLO board of directors pending an investigation by a committee of the Finance Ministry. Somchainuk was speaking to reporters after meeting with Chaiwat at the ministry. "Chaiwat agreed to temporarily become an adviser to the board as proposed by the investigation committee so that the probe would be transparent," Somchainuk said. "I talked to him earlier over the phone, and he agreed with the proposal. I hereby affirm that we will not seek a scapegoat for this case." Police suspected that certain GLO officials collaborated with the gang, which appeared to have managed to fix the results several consecutive times by marking balls for their members to select in the lottery-drawing process. Somchainuk said the GLO board would also select a deputy director to become acting director during the investigation. He said Chaiwat would get his post back if the committee decided that he had not been involved in the scam. The permanent secretary said Chaiwat needed to be removed from the post first to prevent allegations that he would influence the way his subordinates testified to the investigation committee. "Chaiwat informed me much earlier that he was willing to have it come out this way. He is a gentleman and made everything easy for us," Somchainuk said. The permanent secretary said the GLO also needed to improve its method of lottery drawing to prevent cheating. He said he expected that the GLO union would not oppose the suspension of Chaiwat. "The union should understand that we need to do this for the transparency of the organisation," Somchainuk said. Anuporn Klomklao, chairman of the union, said the GLO employees were unhappy to see Chaiwat removed from the post but the union had yet to meet and discuss whether to make any move on the matter. Anuporn said removing the GLO director could suggest to the public that the GLO had been involved in the fixing of results. 7 charged in lottery scam Public prosecutors on December 26 filed criminal charges against seven suspects in the June 1 government-lottery-fixing case, accusing them of colluding to cheat on the lottery and being members of a criminal gang. Wiwat Duangjan, a director-general of the Attorney General's Office, said prosecutors had filed charges against Narong Unphaet, alias Krom Bangkruai; Phichai Thep-arak, alias Chai Khoksamrong; Suriyan Duangkaew, alias Phooyai Muek; Somtrakool Jorbkrathok; Chief Warrant Officer Kitichat Kulpradit; Thongsuk Chanakaree; and Anan Sukhuang. Prosecutors dropped two other charges against each suspect brought by police. The charges were conspiring to swindle the public and being members of an organised-crime syndicate, Wiwat said.