"There is no cause for concern because everything will proceed in accordance with evidence," he said.

Abhisit said the prosecution of the Indian-born financier Rakesh Saxena would be based on the rule of law, freed from political meddling.

The government will not play a political game in connection with the fraud case in 1996, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said yesterday, echoing his boss Abhisit.

Saxena, in Thai custody following the successful extradition hearing in Canada, has boasted of having political contacts with the defunct faction known as the Group of 16, which has morphed into various coalition cliques, including the Newin Chidchob faction.

"The fraud case involving Saxena will proceed in accordance with judicial procedures without interference by the government," Suthep said.

Although he led the censure debate in the House that subsequently exposed the Bangkok Bank of Commerce fraud, he would not get involved in the prosecution of Saxena, he said.

He went on to dismiss speculation that the Democrats might exploit the case as a political leverage to rein in coalition allies with linkage to the fraud.

"At the time of the incident, the Democrats did their job as opposition lawmakers and the case has moved on to the prosecution stage, in which justice should be allowed to run its course," he said.

He insisted there would be no political meddling in the case.

As the case came to light when the disbanded Chart Thai Party was in power, the then prime minister Banharn Silapa-archa was in charge of initiating the legal proceedings on the banking fraud, Chart Thai Pattana Party spokesman Wachara Kannikar said.

Wachara called on the authorities to get to the bottom of the fraud and prosecute all culprits regardless of their political connections. He denied that his coalition party, which is the reincarnation of the disbanded party, was trying to shield politicians linked to the fraud.

"The case should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law because society is awaiting to see whether Saxena is the final culprit or a precursor to a long list of culprits," he said.