The real Xi'an lottery top prize winner Liu Liang Friday received the top prize, a BMW car and 120,000 yuan in cash, and accepted the sincere apologies from local sports authorities.

At a simple ceremony held in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province,an official of the Xi'an Sport Lottery Center announced the decision that Liu's lottery ticket was valid. Li Minghua, director of the Shaanxi Provincial Sport Bureau, and Wang Kai, director of the Xi'an City Sport Bureau,apologized to Liu.

Liu received a notarial certificate and the key of the BMW car. He spent the majority part of the 120,000 yuan (14,457 US dollars)bonus to pay taxes.

Liu bought the number "Club K" and won the top prize in the second round of drawing lots. But the sport center announced the ticket submitted by Liu was a forgery and refused to fulfill the promise of this prize.

When he was not allowed to take the car, Liu became so angry that he climbed on top of a high advertising sign and threatened he would jump off it to show he was innocent of any wrong-doing.

Police investigation showed Yang Yongming, contractor of the lottery ticket selling, colluded with some other people to cheat on the four top prizes, each with a BMW car and 120,000 yuan, by making marks on lottery tickets and employing Yue Bin, Wang Changli and Liu Xiaoli to falsely claim the top prizes.

The police have detained the suspects allegedly manipulating the scratch-and-win sports lottery in Xi'an and the suspects have confessed.

Currently, relative departments of Shaanxi and Xi'an are investigating government functionaries involved in the lottery scam.

Source: Xinhua