Three senior officials given suspended jail terms

All of a Thaksin Cabinet responsible for the introduction of the lottery scheme, introduced with intention to eradicate the illegal underground lottery, had been implicated in the case. The court said the Assets Examination Committee is empowered to pursue its demand for damages.

The Supreme Court began reading the much-anticipated verdict at 2.50 pm on Wednesday despite the absence of four suspects - including ex-Government Lottery Office director Pol Maj Gen Surasit Sangkapong, ex-finance minister Suchart Chaowisit and ex-permanent secretary for finance Somchainuek Engtrakul.

Found guilty were Somchainuek, Chaiwat Pasokpakdi and Deputy Finance Minister Varathep Rattanakorn. The court said Varathep, acting under Thaksin Shinawatra's prompting, proposed the lottery scheme to the Cabinet as a special agenda, giving the other Cabinet members no time to review the plan.

Varathep, Somchainuek and Chaiwat, who was government lottery office chief at that time before being replaced by Surasit, were given suspended 2-year jail term. They were fined Bt10,000 each.

The court dismissed the defendants' claim that the new lottery system was introduced using the same principles as "charity lottery," which required easier legal procedures.

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was among the 47 suspects but his case was suspended because he remained a fugitive in another case.

The lottery case (named "onland" lotto as opposed to "underground" lottery) involves two

main issues _ the questionable right of the government to introduce such a lottery scheme

and alleged misuse of income generated from the sales.

The court also ruled that money generated by the sales could not be used freely by the government.

The Thaksin government introduced the new lottery in 2003, saying it was designed to eliminate underground lottery operations. Investigators of the Assets Examination Committee concluded that the cabinet resolution to legalise the two and threedigit lottery scheme went against the Government Lottery Office Act, as the nature of the scheme was different from the office's mainstream six-digit lottery.

The Thaksin government, fuelling controversy resulting from the "promotion of gambling", used the money to fund an education sponsorship programme which critics viewed as a populist project.