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A guy who mistakenly won more than £280,000 in his city’s covid-19 relief budget said he staked the money in just two weeks at overseas casinos.
More than 463 low-income families in the city of Abu, located in Japan’s Yamaguchi district, were expected to get 100,000 yen (about £600) from their government to help ease economic hardship.
Instead, the full fund of 46. 3 million yen (£287,000) was deposited into the account of a 24-year-old whose call was not disclosed.
Every day for about two weeks, he retired and local media claimed he had played, Asahi Shumbun reported.
He quoted him as saying, “I have already transferred the money. Cannot be returned.
“This can no longer be undone. I will pay for my crime.
“I don’t have the cash right now and I don’t have anything with the asset price in hand. It’s hard to give it back. “
Abu Mayor Norihiko Hanada told reporters on May 17 that it would be “unforgivable” if the guy gambled all his money at casino sites.
He said it was hard to believe that such a sum of money had been lost all at once.
The guy voluntarily agreed to do so through police officers, according to an attorney representing him.
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At a press conference on Monday, May 16, the lawyer revealed that the guy had explained to him that everything was gone.
“He spent the entirety (46. 3 million yen) of his smartphone,” his lawyer said.
The lawyer added that it would be difficult to reverse the budget and that the man’s smartphone has already voluntarily surrendered to the police.
According to the lawyer, the guy is cooperating with the police.
He responded to the police’s request to voluntarily look at his case in April expired, and then on May 10, after the revelation of the city’s banking error.
The guy reportedly agreed to continue to be questioned.