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New clue found in $72,000 lottery lawsuit

New clue found in $72,000 lottery lawsuit

Wednesday, October 23, 2013, 12:59 GMT+7

The Criminal Science Institute has announced a discovery that will undoubtedly be an important clue in the lawsuit that has lasted for over two years between a woman and a lottery agent in Kien Giang Province. Local court has requested a criminal probe into the case.    The suit involves plaintiff Nguyen Thi Tuyet of Chau Thanh District and the Trieu Phat Lottery Agent based in the province’s Rach Gia City. The new finding is that the lottery ticket handed by Tuyet to the agent when she came to claim the special prize (VND1.5 billion, or US$72,000) and the ticket returned by the agent to Tuyet after verification are two different tickets, said Nguyen Thanh Duc, chief judge of the Rach Gia City People’s Court. The finding was made after investigators of the Institute, under the Ministry of Public Security, had elaborately scrutinized a video clip that recorded Tuyet’s interactions with the agent she had contacted to claim her prize money.   Trieu Phat has voiced that the company, not Tuyet or the court, had requested a check of the video clip recorded at its premises.  On July 22, 2011, Tuyet and her son, Nguyen Thanh Duoc, brought a lottery ticket with the number 938368 issued by the An Giang Lottery Ticket Co Ltd a day before to the Trieu Phat Lottery Agent to claim their prize. Ngo Xuong Phuc, the owner of the agency, examined the ticket and confirmed it was the winning number. Both parties agreed that the prize would be paid in gold. Phuc then gave the winning ticket back to Tuyet so she could write her name, ID number, and signature on the back of the ticket. After completing the procedure, Tuyet returned the ticket to Phuc, who then handed it to his nephew for re-verification. After examining the ticket, Phuc’s nephew said that the ticket was not real, since some numbers had obviously been glued onto it. Phuc refused to pay the prize to Tuyet, who later reported the case to police. On October 14, 2011, the police in Rach Gia City issued a decision not to investigate the case because “The lottery ticket brought to the Trieu Phat Agent by Nguyen Thi Tuyet and Nguyen Thanh Duoc had been modified; Duoc could not identify who had sold the ticket to him; and there is no evidence to suggest that the agent had cheated Tuyet and Duoc by keeping the winning ticket and returning a fake one.” However, Tuyet insisted that the agent had cheated her to steal the winning ticket. She then lodged complaints to concerned agencies about the case. On December 12, 2012, the Kien Giang Province People’s Procuracy rejected her complaint, stating “there is no ground for handling the complaint.”Court requests probe on the case Unsatisfied with the Procuracy’s decision, Tuyet brought the case to the Rach Gia City People’s Court, which conducted two reconciliation sessions but failed to settle the case. At the second reconciliation session, Phuc admitted that it was wrong to take the ticket without first asking Tuyet to sign it, but he rejected Tuyet’s allegation that he switched her ticket with another. Meanwhile, Tuyet said that Phuc had tricked her by switching her winning ticket with a fake one and having her to sign her name on the wrong ticket.  Tuyet also said that she had asked police to check fingerprints on the tickets but her request was rejected.     Yesterday morning, chief judge Duc said, “From the Forensic Science Institute’s conclusion, we have requested provincial police open a criminal investigation into the case to clarify Trieu Phat’s possible ‘act of swindling to appropriate assets’.” However, Duc said,  “the police and relevant agencies have told us that some details in the “conclusion needed to be clarified.” Meanwhile, Nguyen Huu Tuong, a high-ranking official at the provincial People’s Procuracy, said, “After a meeting with all related agencies, the provincial People’s Committee has requested that an additional verification must occur to clarify some contents of the conclusion. Therefore, we have to wait for the result of the additional verification, which will form a basis for deciding on whether the case should be treated civilly or criminally.”

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