Video: A Maple Ridge realtor is in court to dispute a claim to a winning lottery ticket. Grace Ke reports.
A lottery dispute is now being settled in B.C. Supreme Court. The issue is whether the ticket belonged to the man who collected the $3.6 million winnings.
Franz Prokop is a Realtor and former Maple Ridge councillor. He was shot last August while he was showing some property in Maple Ridge.
Prior to the shooting, Prokop filed a lawsuit over a winning lottery ticket.
He alleges that he was the one who purchased the winning 649 Lotto ticket at a Save-On-Foods in Port Coquitlam in August, 2007. But it was his former common-law partner’s son, Peter Dushop, who came forward with the winning ticket to claim the money in July 2008.
Prokop alleges Dushop had stolen the ticket from him.
A few witnesses took the stand today in court, both from the BC Lottery Corporation.
One of the witnesses is a manager who verifies the legitimacy of the owner of a ticket. She says she did speak to Dushop, and always asks questions such as where the ticket was purchased, and the time and the date of the purchase. She said Dushop could not recall certain details such as the time and the date, but she also said that is not unusual.
Dushop waited a year to claim the winning ticket and said to reporters at the time that he only told his mother about the winnings.
The witness said this is more uncommon although not unheard of.
Dushop did not want to comment outside court today. Prokop was not in court although he was earlier in the week.
The judge has set aside about 10 days to hear this case.
No arrests have been made in the shooting of Prokop.
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