Ex-prime minister, facing prison, flees

The former prime minister of Thailand has fled the country, a senior member of her party said Friday, and the Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant after she failed to appear in court.

A lawyer for Yingluck Shinawatra, who is facing a prison sentence of up to 10 years, informed the court Friday morning that the former prime minister was too ill to attend the reading of the verdict in her case.

But, in fact, she had left Thailand, initially for Singapore, on Wednesday evening, according to the senior member of the Phue Thai Party, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on her behalf.

He said he was uncertain whether she had remained in Singapore.

Yingluck’s lawyer, Norawit Larlaeng, told reporters outside the courthouse that he had learned of her illness only an hour before the hearing.

Asked if she was in Thailand, he replied, “I don’t know. That’s all I can say.”

The prosecution of Yingluck, who was Thailand’s first female prime minister, reflects the deep political divide that prevails in the country, run by a military junta that ousted her government three years ago.

Her no-show was the latest twist in the drama of a political family that transformed Thai politics by capturing the support of the rural poor with promises to raise living standards. Yingluck and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown by the military in 2006, remain popular figures.

Yingluck is charged with mismanaging a rice subsidy initiative while in office, costing the country $8 billion.

Hours after her scheduled hearing, the same court sentenced her former commerce minister, Boonsong Teriyapirom, to 42 years in prison on related corruption charges.