A Chinese court has ruled in favour of a delivery worker who sued to reclaim his 10 million yuan (RM6.1 million) lottery prize after it was fraudulently claimed by another person.
However, after a five-year legal battle, Yao has yet to receive any compensation, South China Morning Post reported.
The case dates back to July 2019 when Yao transferred 20 yuan (RM12.25) to a lottery shop owner, Wang, to purchase two tickets in Xi’an, Shaanxi province.
Wang later sent photos of the tickets to Yao via social media to confirm the purchase, but when one of the tickets won the 10 million yuan jackpot, Wang claimed he had sent the wrong photo and that the winning ticket actually belonged to someone else.
As compensation, Wang offered 150,000 yuan (RM91,878) and deleted their chat history after Yao signed an agreement.
However, two months later, Yao discovered that Wang’s cousin, Gao, was the one who had claimed the prize and received 8 million yuan (RM4.9 million) after taxes from the Shaanxi Provincial Lottery Management Centre.
The court ruled that Gao must return the prize money to Yao, with Wang also held jointly responsible.
Gao appealed, but in July, the Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court upheld the original decision, noting there was no evidence to support Gao’s purchase of the ticket.
Despite the court ruling, both Gao and Wang’s bank accounts are empty, and their properties, put up for auction, have failed to attract buyers.
“Before this incident, I lived a normal life. But because of this, I spent all my savings. I also borrowed hundreds of thousands of yuan to pay for lawyers. How could I not be worried about my life?” said Yao, who earns 3,000 yuan (RM1,836) a month as a water delivery worker.
Yao’s lawyer, Yu Shengxiu, plans to request a court investigation into the whereabouts of the prize money.
