Media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul yesterday pleaded not guilty to allegedly defaming the Shinawatra and Damapong families. The charges claim statements made by Sondhi and nine fellow defendants about the sale of the Shin Corp empire were false and harmed the reputation of both families.

The other defendants are all employees of the Manager Group.

The defendants said they would call 17 witnesses. The prosecution would examine 18. The defendants sought to be absent at times from the trial citing work commitments.

The complaint was laid by General Chaisit Shinawatra, the former supreme commander and a cousin of overthrown prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Criminal Court required Sondhi and Chaisit to appear for mediation on January 15 next year. If that failed, it would then set a trial date.

Election commission :52 vie to be EC secretary-general

Some 52 people have applied for the position of secretary general of the Election Commission, including academics, a former senator and government officials.

Nominations for the post closed yesterday, when there was still activity, with several more people submitting applications at the EC headquarters.

Most of 52 candidates include former politicians and academics such as P-Net coordinator Somchai Srisutthiyakorn, plus former senator Karun Sai-ngam, legal expert Kanin Bunsuwan and acting EC secretary-general Sataporn Santibutr.

The EC opened applications from October 16 to 30. The successful nominee will be announced shortly.

Defamation case :Thaksin's claim deferred

The Civil Court has postponed hearing allegations of civil defamation brought in June by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra against the Democrat Party and three newspapers.

The court decided to wait for the outcome of a pre-trial review of parallel allegations in the Criminal Court.

Thaksin is seeking damages of Bt800 million plus interest from the party, and three Thai-language newspapers - Matichon, Khao Sod and the Daily News.

He claims the respondents falsely accused him of abuse of power through alleged interference in the April general election.

The Criminal Court review is set down for February 5 next year.