The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a lower court’s decision and refused to release on bail Lay Huong, the alleged mastermind of a plot to kill a government minister’s wife.

Judge Kong Srim said at a hearing on Friday that “for the lawsuit of the defendant, the Supreme Court cannot permit her to be out on bail since this case is still being investigated”.

The Appeal Court had made a similar ruling in February.

Huong, 49, was the common-law wife of Khaou Phallaboth, who is the son of Khaou Chuly.

She is currently at the centre of two cases, one a breach of trust suit filed by her former husband, and one in which she is accused of initiating a conspiracy to kill the wife and daughter of current Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol in 2010.

Huong has maintained that the charges against her are the result of a plot orchestrated by her ex-husband as revenge for their messy split.

The charges from Chanthol, she has alleged, stem from his efforts to preserve the Khaou family’s wealth.

Interpol officers in Thailand arrested Huong and returned her to the Kingdom in mid-January.