POLITICS
Former House speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat asked 10 kamnan from Chiang Rai to help his sister win a seat in the Dec 23 general election, the Supreme Court was told on the opening day of a vote-buying case against him. At the Supreme Court's election cases division, Chaiwat Changkaokham, a 52-year-old kamnan of Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district, testified in a case brought by the Election Commission.
Mr Chaiwat said each of the kamnan was paid 20,000 baht.
He said that in October last year he was contacted by Mr Yongyuth's aide, asking him to travel to Bangkok to meet Mr Yongyuth, with fellow kamnan from the same district and Banjong Yangyuen, municipal mayor of tambon Janjawa.
His group agreed to travel to Bangkok on Oct 28, 2007. They met Mr Yongyuth at a hotel.
Mr Yongyuth asked them to help canvass for his sister, La-ong Tiyapairat, a constituency MP candidate for the People Power party (PPP), and other PPP candidates, Mr Chaiwat told the court.
After his group agreed to support Miss La-ong and other candidates who were Mae Chan natives, Mr Yongyuth left the hotel room where they met, Mr Chaiwat said.
Mr Banjong then allegedly gave each member of the group an envelope containing 20,000 baht in cash, saying: ''The boss asked me to give this to you.''
Mr Chaiwat said his group returned to Chiang Rai the next day. Shortly after getting back, Special Branch Police took them to Chiang Rai police station for questioning about the Bangkok trip.
The testimony yesterday was interrupted by policemen from Mae Chan police station in Chiang Rai who asked to arrest Mr Chaiwat on an attempted murder charge.
The court refused to let police arrest Mr Chaiwat away until he has finished testifying.
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