Former Thai PM Faces Corruption Charges

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is to be put on trial in connection with a rice subsidy programme that lost the country billions of dollars.

The charge against the country's first female prime minister concerns her role in a scheme that paid farmers far above market prices for rice.

It also cost Thailand its place as the world's leading exporter.

If found guilty, she could face up to 10 years in prison. Her successful impeachment by parliament has already seen her banned from politics for five years.

The former PM was removed from office last May days before a military coup, amid allegations of abuse of power.

She later issued a statement on Facebook saying: "Democracy has died in Thailand today, along with the rule of law. That move to destroy me is still ongoing and I face it now."

1/10

Gallery: Hunger Games Salute Is Thai Protest

People in Bangkok protesting against military rule hold their three middle fingers in the air during a brief demonstration at a shopping centre. The military has warned it will arrest anyone who uses the gesture, which is borrowed from the Hunger Games as a form of protest against the country's recent coup.

Thailand's military government sent thousands of troops and police into central Bangkok to prevent demonstrations against its seizure of power.

]]>

The raised arm gesture has become a symbol of opposition to the military takeover on May 22 and a response to bans on political gatherings of more than five people. Click through for more pictures...

]]>

The commission in July recommended criminal charges be filed against Ms Yingluck for the subsidy programme, which paid the farmers double the market price for rice.

The programme was a flagship electioneering policy, with Ms Yingluck saying the scheme would directly benefit Thai farmers and reduce the income equality gap in the country.

She won a landslide electoral victory in 2011 backed by the rural poor who benefited from the rice scheme.

Her supporters say the courts and ruling National Legislative Assembly (NLA) are biased and aligned with an establishment intent on blocking her powerful family from politics.

The decision to prosecute may renew tensions in the divided country, with Ms Yingluck's Red Shirt supporters seeing the move as part of an effort to deal a final blow to her party's political power after last year's coup.

The capital's streets were quiet on Friday, as residents obeyed the military junta's ban on public gatherings.

The government of coup leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has urged Ms Yingluck's supporters to stay out of Bangkok this week, although a repeat of the protests that have dogged the country in recent years is unlikely.

The impeachment is the latest chapter in 10 years of turbulent politics that have pitted Ms Yingluck and her brother Thaksin, himself a former prime minister, against the royalist-military establishment which sees the Shinawatras as a threat.

Recommended by Outbrain Recommended by Outbrain

Jidat Lancip