Yingluck sentenced to 5 years’ jail for negligence

BANGKOK: The Supreme Court sentenced former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison yesterday for mismanaging a rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions of dollars.

Yingluck fled abroad last month fearing that the military government, set up after a coup in 2014, would seek a harsh sentence.

For more than a decade, Thai politics have been dominated by a power struggle between Thailand’s traditional elite, including the army and affluent Bangkokbased upper classes, and the Shinawatra family, which includes Yingluck’s brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was also ousted by a coup.

Yingluck had faced up to 10 years in prison for negligence over the costly scheme that had helped get her elected in 2011.

She had pleaded innocent and had accused the military government of political persecution.

Nine judges voted unanimously to find her guilty in a verdict reading that took four hours, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

The court said Yingluck knew that members of her administration had falsified government-togovernment rice deals, but did nothing to stop it.

“The accused knew the government-to-government rice contract was unlawful, but did not prevent it,” the court said.

“Which is a manner of seeking unlawful gains. Therefore, the action of the accused is considered negligence of duty.”

A former commerce minister was jailed for 42 years last month for falsifying government-to-government rice deals in connection with the subsidy scheme. Reuters