Ousted Thai premier sentenced to five years in prison for negligence
▶ Yingluck Shinawatra, who fled the country, guilty of failing to stop corruption over rice subsidies
Thailand’s top court yesterday sentenced former premier Yingluck Shinawatra, who has fled the country, to five years in jail for criminal negligence.
Yingluck, who fled the country last month, was toppled in a 2014 coup and later put on trial for failing to stop corruption in her government’s rice subsidy scheme, which the court said cost the country billions of dollars.
She pleaded not guilty and accused the ruling junta of a witch-hunt. But the supreme court in Bangkok found her guilty of all charges yesterday.
“The court also unanimously agreed that the sentence will not be suspended,” a judge said.
The verdict, which makes Yingluck’s return to the kingdom unlikely, said the leader was aware of corrupt deals made by members of her government, but did nothing to stop them.
“She should have designated reasonable and effective regulations that could concretely prevent loss from the beginning of the programme,” the ruling stated.
It estimated that the policy cost Thailand nearly US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) in losses.
After attending dozens of hearings in a trial that lasted more than a year, Yingluck failed to turn up for a ruling scheduled for August 25.
She still has the right to appeal, but has not appeared in public since she fled. Her once active social media accounts have also gone silent.
It is believed that Yingluck, 50, fled to Dubai to join her billionaire brother Thaksin, a former prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup. Thaksin has kept a home in the city since he fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid jail after he was convicted of corruption.
The Shinawatra siblings have been at the centre of a political battle in Thailand for more than a decade. Thaksin took office in 2001 and secured the loyalty of the rural poor with groundbreaking welfare schemes.
Shinawatra-backed parties have dominated electoral politics ever since, inflaming Bangkok’s elite, who are allied to the military.
Unable to beat the family at the polls, their rivals have turned to court rulings and coups to remove their governments from power. Repeated rounds of rival protests have ensued, often turning violent.
Analysts say the latest coup, followed by Yingluck’s trial, was part of the ruling junta’s effort to remove her clan from politics.
The guilty verdict may not completely erase the Shinawatras’ influence, but it means an end to Yingluck’s political career, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a politics expert at Chulalongkorn University.
It also sends a warning sign to anyone who might try to challenge the dominance of the military and its allies.
“This is the first time that a Thai prime minister has been sentenced to jail for a policy from an election campaign,” said Mr Thitinan, calling it “a tough and tricky standard for future Thai prime ministers”.
The leaders of Thailand’s junta deny having prior knowledge of Yingluck’s plan to escape. But many inside the kingdom are unconvinced, given the junta’s tight security and surveillance of her during the trial.
Analysts say Yingluck probably cut a deal with military leaders, who would have been eager to see off a popular politician poised to become a martyr for the democracy movement.
On the eve of the verdict, junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha said his informants had told him of Yingluck’s whereabouts, but said he would not reveal her location until after the judgment.
The generals have promised a return to democracy, but the date for elections keeps slipping. Even if a vote is held, it will be organised under a charter drafted by the junta, which will curb the power of elected politicians and enshrine the military’s oversight of any government for the next 20 years.