Akeyuth urges Chalerm to put attacker behind bars

Government critic Akeyuth Anchanbutr yesterday called for the speedy arrest of his assailant and accused the Pheu Thai Party of creating a diversion to Thursday's incident involving the prime minister at a five-star hotel.

Akeyuth claims an unidentified man assaulted him some 10 minutes after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra left the hotel, where she had attended a private function.

Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Jirayu Huangsap said Akeyuth tried to smear the prime minister by making remarks as if to link Yingluck to a love motel.

Akeyuth countered he had never made disrespectful remarks about Yingluck.

"Jirayu let his imagination run wild as I did not make any reference to a love motel," he said.

He said that as Yingluck had already assigned Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung to look into the incident, Jirayu and other Pheu Thai "cronies" should stop stirring up trouble.

Akeyuth reminded Chalerm of his duty to resolve the case in a speedy manner, claiming the deputy prime minister already knew the identify of the assailant.

He also ruled out the filing of a police complaint, arguing his attack was already public knowledge.

Legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said the Democrats should not try to portray Yingluck in a suspicious manner. He argued that Yingluck's presence at the hotel was proper and not linked to any conflict of interest or personal affairs.

Noppadon said Yingluck was a businesswoman for more than 20 years before entering politics, therefore it was normal for her to meet and solicit opinions in the business community in order to fine-tune her government performance.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said the prime minister had openly travelled to the hotel and did not have a clandestine meeting as alleged.

Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut urged the prime minister to spell out why she spent official hours attending a private meeting.

No one suspected Yingluck of any questionable conduct but questions arose for two reasons - Akeyuth's attack coincided with her visit to the hotel, and there were rumours of land speculation in connection with the construction of a floodway, he said.

He said he did not understand why the spokesmen for the government and ruling party were making an issue about Yingluck's love life when none of the Democrats had cast any doubt on her personal affairs.

"Instead of shielding Yingluck, [deputy government spokesman] Anusorn [Iamsa-ard] is actually degrading his female boss," he said in reference to the government deputy spokesman's remarks that Yingluck was not involved in a secret liaison.