Manuel Reija, a lottery seller accused of taking a 4.7 million euro Primitiva ticket from 2012, testified on Monday in A Coruña Provincial Court that he found it forgotten on his counter and tried to claim it to prevent expiration. He denied hiding the information from the customer and using his brother's position as lottery delegate. Prosecutors claim he kept the ticket knowing its value.
Manuel Reija testified in the penultimate trial session that on July 2, 2012, he found the first-category Primitiva ticket worth 4.7 million euros "forgotten" on his A Coruña lottery outlet counter while alone. "I had no one in front when I found it," he stated, describing the tickets as "freshly taken from a wallet." After checking them on the terminal, he detected the prize but did not know its exact amount.
Two months later, in September 2012, he filed a claim with the Sociedad Estatal de Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE), followed by three more in 2013. "I tried to claim the prize so it wouldn't expire," he justified, saying it was to prompt a response so the money went to its owner. He went to the A Coruña lottery delegation run by his brother Miguel Reija to ask about procedure, as "there was no clear guideline."
Prosecutors argue Reija knew the high value when a customer checked it in July 2012, hid the information, and kept the ticket. Terminal records show prior checks with unique combinations, which Reija calls a "lie." His brother faces encubrimiento charges.
Two families claim ownership: the widow and daughter of the man police identified as owner, and another with a discarded claimant. Prosecutors seek six years in prison for both brothers for estafa or apropiación indebida, or alternatively encubrimiento and blanqueo.
