Miguel Reija, delegate of Lotteries in A Coruña and brother of the lottery investigated, upon his arrival at the courts of the city to declare as investigated, in 2019.
The prosecutor's office of A Coruña requests the opening of an oral trial and a punishment of six years in prison for the lottery Manuel Eugenio Reija, responsible for the administration number 22 of San Agustín Street in the capital of A Coruña, for allegedly appropriating a ticket of the Primitive Lottery awarded with more than 4.7 million in the draw of June 30, 2012. The lottery seller kept the paper, according to the public ministry, when its real owner, who did not know he had won, went with several bets that he had sealed days before in another place and gave them to the now investigated to check them. The legitimate owner of the ticket with the combination 10-17-24-37-40-43, resulting from an automatic bet, died in January 2014 without knowing he was the winner, but was identified by the National Police after discarding some 300 people who, during the investigation of this case, presented themselves assuring that they were holders of the prize. The prosecutor accuses the lottery player, a professional who continues to maintain that he is innocent and who found the ticket thrown in his administration, of a crime of fraud or, alternatively, of one of misappropriation.
It also points to his brother, Miguel Reija, on that date delegate of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado in the province of A Coruña, and attributes to him a crime of money laundering or, where appropriate, concealment. It is the only charge that is doomed to trial for this notorious matter, after last year the Court of A Coruña ordered the file of the proceedings against four other responsible for Lotteries. The former delegate in A Coruña faces a request for a sentence of six years (or three, in case of cover-up). If in the trial it is concluded that he committed money laundering, the Prosecutor's Office also claims a fine of 9.4 million euros, double the prize, and asks that the original debt be settled with the widow and daughter of the winner from A Coruña.
The lottery player said in 2012 that in his business a primitive with the winning combination had appeared forgotten and that it was not possible for him to know who owned it. In the city he went from hero to alleged villain, from honest to alleged fraudster, as the police investigations that were opened later advanced. The year after the draw, the City Council opened a "discovery file" to find the winner of the winning ticket, and hundreds of would-be millionaires showed up. Faced with this situation, a police investigation was opened and the version of the lottery seller was questioned. The agents concluded that the defendant had hidden the prize from the real holder, a man who used to play different draws and who had landed in San Agustín only to check results, since his bets had been sealed in a shopping center, in another neighborhood of A Coruña.
In its letter, addressed to the Court of Instruction Number 8 of A Coruña, the public prosecution tells how the winner, without knowing that he was, gave several receipts to the lottery, in his weekly routine of checking his bets, so that he could pass them through the terminal. "At 11.25.39 a.m., when checking the [ticket] numbered 178-04948907-045, the following literal message appeared on the terminal screen: Superior Award. Take receipt to delegation, simultaneously printing the receipt where the obligation of return is expressly collected: Deliver to the client. El resguardo is winner of draw 30 Jun 12. Cat 1 Award", details the prosecutor.
"Aware of the high amount of the prize, he kept it for himself, along with the other tickets," the indictment describes. Manuel Reija, according to the Prosecutor's Office, continued to act normally in front of the lucky client, and validated eight other bets delivered by him. The winner left the administration without any justification and without knowing that luck blessed him with 4,722,337.75 euros. When he was alone, the lottery player "performed a second check of the graceful ticket" to "make sure." And within seconds, he did a third test. Hours later, he went to the provincial delegation of State Lotteries and Betting, led by his brother, to "accelerate the procedures for the collection of the receipt regardless of any regulated procedure and as if he were the legitimate holder," the indictment continues. From then on, the director of Loterías "set out to pave the way" for his relative.
"Taking advantage of the close and friendly treatment he had because of his position with members of the State Society of Betting and Lotteries of the State (SELAE), he contacted some of them mendaciously stating that his brother had found the ticket," says the prosecutor. At the same time, "he omitted any action, as provincial delegate, that could serve to verify the real origin of the ticket." From that moment, the defendants deployed a continuous action to avoid the initiation of any procedure that could delay the collection. " On July 10, 2012, Miguel Reija delivered the ticket to SELAE and on September 6, without further administrative procedures "and before the expiration of the three months of expiration" of the prize, "he sent a letter to SELAE and attached his brother's request for collection."
The provincial head of Lotteries insisted with several writings between the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, but the legal advice of the SELAE replied that the legal procedure was the so-called "finding file". This ended up being forged in 2013 with the collection of data from countless people (candidates to own the ticket) in dependencies of the City Council of A Coruña. The prosecutor indicates in her brief that the winning ticket "continues to be deposited in the SELAE" without charging.
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