Piya defends Surayud

It wasn't, as alleged by former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a "secret meeting to plot the Sept 19, 2006 coup." Piya said.

Piya told Matichon Online that he had hosted the dinner after His Majesty the King had on April 25, the same year, urged the judges of the Administrative Court and Supreme Court seeking an audience, to find a solution to the country's political crisis at the time.

"I only wanted to hear what the country's top judges who happened to be my friends had to say about the situation," Piya, who owns a media company, said.

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