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Chaiwat - a kamnan of Tambon Mae Chan Chwa, in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district - has implicated Yongyuth for making payments to 10 kamnan in exchange for canvassing votes in the December general election.

Chaiwat's hometown is in Mae Chan district, as is Yongyuth's. He received Yongyuth's support when he ran in the village-chief election in 2004 and the kamnan election in the same year, which he won.

 

Chaiwat became one of Yongyuth's close aides.

"We went together to Japan and somewhere else," he said, adding that he had helped Yongyuth successfully persuade local people in Tambon Mae Chan Chwa to apply for Thai Rak Thai Party membership in 2005.

Asked how such an alliance had turned bad, Chaiwat said he did not want to discuss it as he was afraid of being sued. Yongyuth is already suing him in nine different cases, and it is too much for him, he said.

"National politics is so hard to handle. I am a witness and I have to take care of myself. I cannot go back to Chiang Rai for the next one to two years, otherwise I might be killed, a senior police officer told me. I also want protection for my family," Chaiwat said.

Chaiwat's lawyer Rasami Pensuk said Chaiwat was sufficiently close to Yongyuth to be counted as one of his close aides. He had also joined Yongyuth on many foreign trips.

However, Chaiwat turned and became a witness against Yongyuth after the Election Commission summoned him, she said.

Since being threatened, Chaiwat has been in hiding but is continuing his fight against Yongyuth. Meanwhile, Yongyuth has filed nine criminal cases against Chaiwat.

Rasami said she could not contact Chaiwat unless he telephoned her.