Latest development:

July 6: Forty-nine ousted Cabinet members and lottery officials have been summoned to hear indictments relating to the July 8, 2003 decision on the sale of illegal two- and three-digit lotteries, graft-buster Udom Fuangfung said yesterday.

They are obliged to report to authorities from July 23. About 10 defendants each day are expected to report to hear the charges.

March 27: The Interior Ministry filed a complaint relating to illegal lotteries.
Acting on behalf of the ministry, the Provincial Administration Department outlined how and why local revenues were adversely impacted by tax exemption unlawfully granted to two-and three-digit lotteries.

March 6: The AEC greed to appoint a subcommittee to probe 32 former Cabinet members in the Thaksin government for issuing resolutions in regard to the two- and three-digit lottery scheme. There were grounds to believe they broke the law. The AEC estimated that the lottery scheme caused the state to lose Bt21 billion in revenue, and the Office of the Government Lottery incurred Bt16 billion in losses.

The AEC also incriminated 17 directors of the present and previous board of the Office of the Government Lottery for recommending to the Finance Ministry and the Thaksin cabinet that the government  implement the special lottery scheme.

March 1: The AEC incriminated 30 political office-holders and 16 officials for causing the state to lose Bt15 billion in taxes from the two- and three-digit lotteries.

AEC subcommittee chairman Udom said his panel would next Tuesday recommend to the AEC that it set up a committee to probe the suspects for violating the criminal code and the Offences Committed by State Officials Act of 1959.

Background

The Thaksin government introduced the new lottery in 2003, saying it was intended to eliminate underground lottery operations.

Investigators concluded that a Cabinet resolution to legalise the twoand threedigit lottery scheme goes against the Government Lottery Office Act, as the nature of the scheme is different from the office’s sixdigit lottery. However they agree that legalisation of the new lottery does not contradict the Gambling Act. The team is now investigating the spending of Bt13 billion in revenue generated by the scheme. The team is also assessing damage to the state due to the taxfree nature of the scheme.