The Teacher's Council of Thailand (TCT) on Friday set up a committee to consider whether teacher Preecha Kraikruan has violated the Teachers' Ethics Act after he was arrested and charged by police for allegedly using fake information to claim ownership of winning lottery tickets worth 30 million baht.
TCT secretary-general Somsak Dolprasit said if Mr Preecha is found guilty of violating the Ethics Act by the committee, he faces either a warning, probation, suspension or having his teaching licence revoked entirely.
However, Mr Somsak said he believes that Mr Preecha's behaviour is not within the scope of a serious ethical violation as it's not related to drug trafficking, human trafficking or sexual abuse of children, so his licence would unlikely be revoked.
"At the moment, we can't predict what will happen as Mr Preecha has not confessed to the crime and is technically innocent pending a court ruling," he said.
According to Mr Somsak, a panel will spend 60 days looking into Mr Preecha's case.
Mr Preecha, 50, has started cooperating with investigators in the 30-million-baht lottery ticket case, according to the TCT chief.
The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on Friday took Mr Preecha, and lottery vendor Ratanaporn Supatip, 58, to the Criminal Court in Bangkok for approval to prolong their detention after the first 48 hours expired following their arrest in Kanchanaburi on Wednesday.
Before the trip to the court, CSD commander Maitree Chimcherd talked to Mr Preecha for about two hours.
A source said Mr Preecha told Pol Maj Gen Maitree he would need a few days to consider matters before answering all police questions.
The source said Mr Preecha's recent answers were very useful, and the CSD did not object to his request for temporary release.
Mr Preecha and Mrs Ratanaporn were arrested in Kanchanaburi province on Wednesday on charges of filing false information with police claiming that winning tickets from the Nov 1, 2017 draw belonged to Mr Preecha, and accusing retired officer Pol Lt Jaroon Wimool, 62, of embezzlement.
The former deputy inspector for crime suppression in Kanchanaburi has all along insisted the tickets were his.
Mr Preecha and Ms Ratanaporn were detained and questioned at the CSD in Bangkok on Wednesday. They have denied all charges against them.
Kriangkrai Nakawaree, Mr Preecha's lawyer, said that the court had granted Mr Preecha and Ms Ratanaporn bail set at 100,000 baht each, in part due to Mr Preecha's government position.
Pol Lt Gen Thitiraj Nhonghanpitak, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, arrived at the CSD on Thursday night and questioned the two suspects for about an hour.
The lottery dispute came to light when Mr Preecha claimed in December that he had purchased the winning tickets and filed a complaint with police against Pol Lt Jaroon, who had cashed in the tickets.
Mr Preecha claimed Pol Lt Jaroon found the tickets on the floor and picked them up after he had purchased and then dropped them.
The case was originally handled by Provincial Police Region 7, which is responsible for Kanchanaburi and other western provinces.
That investigation concluded Mr Preecha was the owner of the tickets.
The finding was met with scepticism by the public, and the national police chief on Feb 5 ordered the transfer of the case to the CSD.