Yongyuth swears he is innocent

Former house speaker Yongyuth Tiyapairat yesterday swore he had nothing to do with the murder of a key witness in the Shin Corp tax-evasion case and showed images captured by a close-circuit camera depicting a group of men raiding and destroying his four-storey house in Bangkok after the 2006 coup.

Yongyuth organised the press conference yesterday to counter the Justice Ministry's move to have the Department of Special Investigation look into the murder of Kornthep Wiriya, or "Shipping Moo" as he was known, who was shot dead on March 24, 2003. Politicians in the Thaksin Shinawatra's government linked the death with drug trade.

Yongyuth also said that he had given a foreign friend a copy of the CD, so it could be used as evidence in case he was killed. He only played some parts of the film yesterday, showing his house being raided and destroyed by a group of men in black on September 20, 2006. He refused to turn on the sound, claiming that the voices would reveal who was behind it and cause further divisions in the country.

When playing the scene of a man removing his hood to talk on the phone, Yongyuth said this man was known in the military circles and if he turned on the sound, the reporters would know who he was talking to on the phone.

He said he had to produce this evidence because he was told that a government politician had linked him with the murder of Shipping Moo in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan District. Yongyuth revealed that after the coup, a top police officer had gone to the Mae Chan district police station and told a senior officer that if he could frame Yongyuth, he would be promoted. However, he said, the officer refused and was transferred to the South. He police officer has only just been reinstated in his old post in Chiang Rai.

"Politicians ordered my arrest. I have lots of friends in the police force, so I want to warn them that such cases have a 20-year statute of limitations. If you produce false evidence to protect politicians, you will be held responsible. Politics is never certain. Those who instructed you will also die one day," he said.

Yongyuth said he was trying to clear his name in nine cases, including the one related to him getting red-carded, the fabrication of document to apply as People Power Party and the shares transfer case.

He said he was forced to produce this CD because his back was against the wall.

"Do not corner me like this. I am suffering from the way the military treated me. I was not angry when they detained me without any charges. Then they raided and destroyed my house. What comes next?" he asked.

When asked why he had not taken his case to the courts, Yongyuth said he did not know who he could depend on. He said he could seek justice through international agencies if he wanted, though he would have to die before he could reveal the voice of the man in the CD.