The coup was moved up to 19 September, when Thaksin was still in New York. Sonthi also stated that the coup was not an urgent measure mooted just a couple of days earlier. Sonthi also claimed that during a lunch that Thaksin had with the commanders of the armed forces, Thaksin had asked him "Will you stage a coup?" Sonthi replied: "I will." This contradicted earlier public statements where he denied that the military would stage a coup. "The Nation" noted that the timing of the coup contains many instances of the number nine, a highly auspicious number in Thai [[numerology]]. The coup occurred at the 19th day of the 9th month of [[Buddhist Era]] 2549. Coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin made a major public announcement on the morning after the coup at 9.39 am. "The Nation" earlier indicated 09:16 as the time for Sonthi's press conference and the [[Buddhist calendar]] is in line with the [[Gregorian calendar]] only since 1941. The junta was accused of paying Army officers 1.5 billion [[baht]] in order to participate in the coup. Junta leader Sonthi Boonyaratkalin stopped short of denying that the military spent money from a secret fund, saying "We certainly needed money for our people's food and other necessary expenses." Many causes of the coup were identified, both by the junta as well as by independent observers. Initial reasons stated by the junta were the Thaksin government's alleged creation of an "unprecedented rift in society", corruption, nepotism, interference in independent agencies, and insults to the King. Later reasons stated by junta leaders included Thaksin's alleged vote buying, plans to provoke violence, and weakening of the military. Two months after the coup, the junta issued a [[white paper]] identifying many reasons for the coup, including corruption, abuse of power, lack of integrity, interference in the checks and balances system, human rights violations, and destroying the unity of the people. Independent analysts identified widely differing reasons for the coup. [[Thitinan Pongsudhirak]] of [[Chulalongkorn University]] alleged that the coup was due to conflicts between Thaksin and King [[Bhumibol Adulyadej]]. Biographer [[Paul Handley]] noted that "[the coup masterminds] did not want Thaksin in a position to exert influence on the passing of the Chakri Dynasty mantle to Crown Prince [[Vajiralongkorn]]."