e4thai.com

 The national police chief will Wednesday afternoon announce whether teacher Preecha Kraikruan (left) or retired policeman Jaroon Wimol owns the disputed B30m-winning lottery tickets.

Police will seek arrest warrants for several civilians on Wednesday morning before announcing the result of their investigation into the 30-million-baht lottery dispute in Kanchanaburi province in the afternoon.

Pol Lt Gen Thitirat Nonghanpitak, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), said on Tuesday that the final report from detectives and interrogators had already been submitted to national police chief Chakthip Chajinda, who would announce the findings at the Royal Thai Police Office in Bangkok at 1pm on Wednesday.

The report was based on investigations in Kanchanaburi, interviews at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), scientific evidence and the verification of all witnesses' accounts.

"The case is almost complete," Pol Lt Gen Thitirat said.

He dismissed speculation that police would seek arrest warrants related to the case on Tuesday - an expectation had drawn a large number of reporters to the CIB. 

Interrogators, the CSD commander and the CIB commissioner would seek arrest warrants at the Criminal Court on Ratchadaphisek Road in Bangkok at about 9am Wednesday, he said.

A source said that police would arrest two civilians for filing false information with interrogators and public prosecutors. and attempting to frame others persons. The offences are liable to a jail term of up to 3-5 years in jail and/or a fine of up to 10,000-60,000 baht, according to the count.

The lottery scandal came to light after Preecha Kraikruan, a 50-year-old teacher in Kanchanaburi who claimed he purchased the jackpot-winning tickets, in December lodged a complaint with police against retired Pol Lt Jaroon Wimol, 62, who was in possession of the five winning tickets at the time, accusing him of embezzlement.

As a result, the cash prizes from the Nov 1, 2017 draw were frozen pending the conclusion of the probe.

The case was originally handled by Provincial Police Region 7, which oversees Kanchanaburi and other western provinces.

It concluded Mr Preecha was the real owner of the tickets based on the testimony of witnesses. Pol Gen Chakthip on Feb 5 ordered the regional police to transfer the case to the CSD after the probe results were met with scepticism by the public.