Judgment day looms for ex-premier Yingluck
BANGKOK: Clobbered by coups and courts, Thailand’s Shinawatra political dynasty is bracing for another withering blow in its decade-long power struggle with the kingdom’s establishment as judges decide whether to convict the clan’s expremier Yingluck.
The Supreme Court will on Friday rule if Yingluck is guilty of criminal negligence over a rice subsidy that showered cash on her family’s rural political heartland, but was riddled with graft and led to billions of dollars of losses.
If convicted, Thailand’s first female prime minister could be jailed for up to 10 years — although a sentence may be suspended. She is also eligible for bail pending appeal.
The Shinawatras emerged as a political force in 2001 when billionaire family patriarch, Thaksin, swept to power.
He energised the economy and provided the most extensive propoor welfare schemes in Thai history. But critics accused him of abusing power and blurring the lines between business and politics, becoming as loathed by the Bangkok royalist elite as he was cherished by the rural poor.
A coup toppled him in 2006 and the Shinawatras’ political fortunes have see-sawed since.
Paralysing protests and court cases have hacked at their governments and finances, while another coup toppled his younger sister Yingluck in 2014.
A guilty verdict for Yingluck on Friday would trigger a life ban from politics, taking out a key family member whose star power and adroit public relations stands apart from the dour elderly generals who currently rule Thailand.
She has pleaded innocent to the charges, saying she is the victim of a ‘subtle political game’.
But her enemies say a conviction would be just desserts for a dynasty accused of seeding the kingdom with graft and nepotism.
“The Shinawatra family downfall is attributable to what they have done in the past,” Akanat Promphan, a key figure in the anti-Yingluck protests that resulted in the last army takeover, told AFP this week.
“Hopefully the verdict will give an expensive lesson to future governments not to use government policy for narrow populist gain.”
While Yingluck faces judges on Friday, it is Thaksin the clan’s rivals really want behind bars.
The former cop from northern Thailand, who made a fortune in telecoms and once owned Manchester City football club, became the country’s first elected premier to complete a full term. He was re-elected in 2005.
But success stirred the ire of the conservative Thai elite and their army allies who feared their monopoly on power was threatened. After he was bundled from office he was hit with a graft conviction and now lives in selfexile to avoid jail. Courts also seized some US$ 1.3 billion of his assets.