Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra did visit Malaysia but not for talks with a leader of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), Noppadon Pattama said on Tuesday.
The legal adviser and close aide of Thaksin said this in an interview on a programme on FM 102.75 radio station.
Mr Noppadon admitted Thaksin visited Malaysia but the former prime minister did not hold talks with a Pulo leader as reported, he said.
He also denied Thaksin visited Malaysia in the capacity of an adviser to the government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, adding that there were attempts to make this a political issue.
If members of the Democrat Party had a picture of Thaksin's meeting with the Pulo leader, they should show it to the public, Mr Noppadon said.
Thavorn Senneam, a Democrat MP for Songkhla, insisted he had obtained information that Thaksin claimed he was the prime minister's adviser and asked the Malaysian leader to invite core members of some separatist groups for talks.
The MP said he had never said he had a picture of Thaksin holding talks with a Pulo leader.
Mr Thavorn, a deputy interior minister in the former Democrat-led government, said the question over whether Thaksin had really held talks with a Pulo leader stemmed from the lack of proper coordination between him and those in charge of security affairs.
While in the previous government, he had talks with some separatist groups and what he did was acknowledged by the 4th Army Region commander, he said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was reported by a news agency today as saying that more than 10,000 supporters of Thaksin were expected to travel to Cambodia to see for the former Thai prime minister, who would arrive in Siem Reap on the afternoon of April 14 from Laos.
Hun Sen reportedly said that after meeting his supporters Thaksin would proceed to Phnom Penh to play golf with him on April 16.