A senior general has rejected reports the Army planned to rid the Kingdom of the influence of controversial former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra years before it seized power last month.
"As far as I know there was no advance planning, because if it were planned that would be illegitimate," Lt-General Chatchalerm Chalerm-sukh told the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) in an interview published yesterday.
"If you're wondering why this [the coup] happened so smoothly, that was because forces were already deployed in the city," he claimed, referring to Bangkok.
His comments came after local media reported that Suthep Thaugsuban, the leader of mass protests that crippled the former administration, said he had been advising the Army chief who led the coup on how to tackle Thaksin for four years.