ANTI-GOVT GROUP CLAIMS THAI PM INVOLVED IN SCANDAL

By D. Arul Rajoo
BANGKOK, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The five-month struggle to kick out the current government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's allies has taken on a new twist, with the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) releasing a video of a man resembling current premier Somchai Wongsawat with a young girl.

The video was shown Wednesday night at Government House, where the PAD had
been holding fort since seizing the building on Aug 26, and still pictures from
the video were splashed on the online version of the PAD-linked Manager
newspaper.

Somchai, married to Thaksin's sister Yoawapa, refused to comment when asked
by reporters Thursday.

But Manager Online, owned by PAD prime-mover Sondhi Limthongkul, said the
man in the video looked like the current prime minister and was seen with the
girl on two different days in March 2006.

On one occasion, the man was seen taking the young girl to a southern food
restaurant named "Pak Tai".

Several days later, he was seen going to a motel in the Charansanitwong
area in the capital, Manager Online said, quoting voices in the video which
implied that they were following the couple.

Somchai has come under tremendous pressure to resign since assuming the
post on Sept 17, two weeks after his predecessor Samak Sundaravej was kicked out
by the Constitution Court for violating the constitution after he appeared on a
television cooking programme while still in office.

PAD has been staging street demonstrations in the capital since May 25 and
took over the prime minister's office at Government House on Aug 26.

Its campaign to oust the current government, which it claimed is a proxy of
Thaksin, has gained momentum after the Oct 7 clash with police that led to two
deaths and over 500 injured, as well as Thaksin's two-year jail sentence for
power abuse by a Thai court last week.

Thaksin is currently living in exile in Britain.
-- BERNAMA