MONRUTHAI NORAKONG
The Supreme Court's election division yesterday found former deputy leader of the People Power party (PPP) Yongyuth Tiyapairat guilty of violating election law by offering money to a group of kamnans in return for helping his sister win in the general election last year.
The court ordered Mr Yongyuth's political rights be revoked and banned him from politics for five years.
The court ordered a by-election in Chiang Rai's constituency 3 to find a replacement for La-ong Tiyapairat, Mr Yongyuth's sister.
The court said there was nothing wrong with the two VCDs used as evidence to back up the electoral fraud allegations against Mr Yongyuth.
Mr Yongyuth and Ms La-ong did not say that the group of people in the recordings were not the kamnans from Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district.
Mr Yongyuth and Ms La-ong had contested that one VCD was made on Oct 25 last year prior to the kamnans' journey to Bangkok and the other on Oct 28 after the meeting in Bangkok between the kamnans and Mr Yongyuth.
One VCD showed the kamnans at Chiang Rai airport, while the other showed them walking out of Suvarnabhumi airport to wait for a minivan.
The court found that the two VCDs showed the same group of kamnans travelling from Chiang Rai to Bangkok on the same occasion.
The court believed the footage in the VCDs featured the trip by the kamnans from Chiang Rai to Bangkok on Oct 28.
The VCDs were given as evidence by Wichit Yodsuwan, Chart Thai's candidate in Chiang Rai, who filed the vote-buying complaint against Mr Yongyuth with the Election Commission.
The court said even though evidence indicated that Chaiwat Changkaokham, a kamnan in Mae Chan, was a member of the opposition Democrat party, Mr Chaiwat confirmed he was also a PPP member.
Mr Chaiwat's testimony may be different from those given by the other kamnans, but there is no law prohibiting the court from hearing his testimony, the court said.
Whether his testimony carried weight depends on his reasoning, the court said.
There were grounds to believe that the meeting in Bangkok on Oct 28 between Mr Yongyuth and the kamnans was to enlist their support for the PPP, of which Mr Yongyuth was then deputy leader, and to help PPP candidates in Chiang Rai, including Ms La-ong.
The court believed that during the meeting, Mr Yongyuth had given them money so they would canvass for votes.
Supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) yesterday declared victory following the court rulings on the Preah Vihear temple joint communique and the electoral fraud case against Mr Yongyuth.
PAD supporters rallying at the Makkhawan Rangsan bridge on Ratchadamnoen avenue called on Mr Yongyuth, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama and the cabinet to take responsibility for causing damage to the country.
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