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MR Chatumongkol Sonakul was giving evidence during week two of the trial against ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife Khunying Pojaman in the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders.

The former chairman of the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), which sold the land after his tenure, said he believed influential people could have been able to check details of the online land bid, which otherwise could not have been done if the auction had been handled in the traditional way of submitting bids on paper in sealed envelopes.

"Insiders could be advantaged ... I don't trust [their method] and it could ensure little fairness," he said, adding that he first thought Pojaman would not become a bidder because the land was state property and her husband was then the prime minister.

"I worked for the government for 40 years and never had any transactions [with the state] because it could have lead to suspicions as to whether I was working for my own benefit or that of the government," he said, in reference to the appropriateness of the land-auction deal, which was won by Pojaman.

Another witness, Krerk Wuthikul, a former manager of the FIDF, insisted that in his view, an e-auction was the best method to obtain the highest price from bidders.

Lawyers for Thaksin and Pojaman again concentrated on questioning all four witnesses yesterday as to whether the FIDF normally had acted independently and without direct interference from the prime minister.

They answered in the affirmative, but it was emphasised by Chatumongkol that the fund normally had the Finance Ministry permanent secretary as chairman of its board, thus ensuring government oversight.

Pairoj Hengsakul, another former manager of the FIDF, said that during his time no special orders or requests had been made by the prime minister, even though the finance minister who oversees the FIDF could do so.

Defence lawyers also stressed yesterday that prior to the Assets Examination Committee (AEC) being appointed by the military junta which staged the September 2006 coup, the board of the FIDF did not see any irregularity with the land deal -despite the perception that the price offered was much lower than the original price paid by the fund.

Another witness, Amnuay Kantara, a member of the now-defunct AEC, said he expressed the minority AEC view that the deal had breached the law, so it should be annulled and the money returned to Pojaman.

At one point, one of the nine presiding judges reminded the court that it had to handle the trial as an inquiry and that the case had to do mostly with legal details.

The trial resumes on Tuesday.