Surayud rejects plot claim

Surayud said he had met certain senior judges a few months before the coup but had merely wanted to hear their views about the country's political situation at the time.

He added that the judiciary had then been expected to help ease the country's problems.

"It would have been stupid of me to discuss plotting a coup with judges. I would have been better off discussing it with military commanders," he said.

Surayud, a privy councillor, said most of Thaksin's allegations against him "were not based on fact". He said he had presented his side of the story and it was up to the public whether to believe him or Thaksin.

Surayud, former Army commander-in-chief and armed-forces supreme commander, said he would not sue Thaksin.

"I am not angry with him. I realise he is having problems. I just want the public to weigh the facts and decide who to believe," he told a press conference at Suvarnabhumi Airport on his return from Chiang Mai.

Thaksin, in a speech on Friday night, accused Surayud and Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda of masterminding the coup on September 19, 2006, that overthrew his government. Thaksin's speech was broadcast to a gathering of his supporters outside Government House.

The ousted premier called on the two royal advisers to "stop interfering in politics" in order to avoid any negative impact on His Majesty the King.

Prem made no reaction to Thaksin's allegation that publicly named him as the "extra-constitutional influential person" who had tried to interfere in government affairs.

A close aide to His Majesty the King's chief adviser said yesterday that he believed Prem had not responded because what Thaksin said was untrue.

Vice Admiral Pachun Tampratheep, private secretary to Prem, said the Privy Council president disregarded Thaksin's accusations.

"General Prem has remained calm and composed over the situation. He will not compromise with the truth,'' he said.