Probe your own brother, Shinawatra asks junta chief

BANGKOK: Thailand’s first woman prime minister on Sunday told the man who ousted her government two years ago to investigate his own brother over corruption allegations, in an unusually strong broadside against the junta.

Yingluck Shinawatra was booted from office shortly before army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha seized power in May 2014, the military’s second coup in less than a decade and their twelfth successful power grab since 1932. Since then she has been hit with a series of junta-led prosecutions including a retroactive impeachment, an ongoing criminal negligence trial that could see her jailed for up to a decade and a separate move to seize more than $1 billion in civil damages.

The last two legal cases stem from a popular but financially costly rice subsidy scheme that Yingluck’s government pushed. “The Prime Minister (Prayut) says that all the legal actions against me are based on the law and are not bullying,” Yingluck wrote on her Facebook account on Sunday.

“I would like the PM to apply the same logic and justice given to me like he gives justice and protection to his brother and other people who are on his side. Because the laws should be enforced for everyone, not just used only against my side.” Yingluck’s comments were a direct reference to new corruption allegations that have surfaced this month against Prime Minister Prayut’s brother Preecha Chan-O-Cha, who is also a senior army general.