March 13, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 23, 1428

BANGKOK: A Thai man arrested over the shooting to death an American businessman last year has claimed that his victim's wife paid him for the killing, police said on Monday.

John LaChapelle, 43, was found dead in late September near his office in Thailand's northern province of Chiang Mai, where he ran a tea export company.

His secretary, 28-year-old Sujin Chusaengroj, was arrested in Chiang Mai along with another Thai man over the killing.

Sujin told police that LaChapelle's wife had paid him to kill his boss because she believed her husband was having affairs with Thai women, police said.

LaChapelle's wife, Dara Panny, is an American of Lao-French descent and is believed to be living in the United States, police said.

“Police are investigating the transfer of 300,000 baht ($8,520), which Sujin said he received from Dara for the killing,” police Lieutenant Colonel Suvit Panyo said.—AFP