Thai former PM Yingluck to face trial over rice scheme
Yingluck was charged by public prosecutors with having violated the Criminal Code and the Anti-Corruption Act in the rice-pledging case.
By PTI | Updated:
BANGKOK: Thailand's former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was today ordered to stand trial over her role in a controversial rice subsidy scheme that cost the country billions and could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.
Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office ordered 47-year-old Yingluck, Thailand's first woman premier, to be in court on May 19 to enter her plea in the case.
The court announced that its panel of nine judges in charge of the case had considered the lawsuit and found that the court had the authority to try the case in line with procedures for trials against political office holders and that the suit was line with the Supreme Court's rules.
"The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority. We accept this case," Judge Viraphol Tangsuwan said.
The court also appointed Tangsuwan, vice president of the Supreme Court, as the judge advocate in charge of the case.
Yingluck was charged by public prosecutors with having violated the Criminal Code and the Anti-Corruption Act in the rice-pledging case.
She is not accused of corruption herself but of failing to prevent alleged graft in the programme.
Thailand's attorney general filed criminal charges against Yingluck in February, accusing her of "dereliction of duty" over the populist but loss making rice scheme.
Yingluck did not attend the Bangkok court today but will be legally obliged to attend the first hearing in May.
In a statement on her Facebook page published shortly after the ruling, she defended the controversial scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers".
The decision to prosecute Yingluck is likely to deepen the long-running political crisis in the military-ruled nation.
Yingluck is the younger sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who is on a self-imposed exile in Dubai after his ouster in a coup in 2006. Thaksin's influence is still there in Thai politics.
The decision could spell the end of her family's political dominance.
The rice subsidy programme, introduced in 2011, pledged to pay farmers well above the market rate for their crop.
But critics said it wasted large amounts of public funds trying to please rural voters, hurting exports and leaving the government with large stockpiles of rice it couldn't sell without losing money.
Anger over the scheme played a role in the protests that led to the downfall of Yingluck's government and a military coup in May last year.
In January, Thailand's military-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted in favour of impeaching Yingluck for her role in the rice programme.
Though the vote was largely symbolic, as she had already lost her post, it carries a five-year ban from politics.
Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office ordered 47-year-old Yingluck, Thailand's first woman premier, to be in court on May 19 to enter her plea in the case.
The court announced that its panel of nine judges in charge of the case had considered the lawsuit and found that the court had the authority to try the case in line with procedures for trials against political office holders and that the suit was line with the Supreme Court's rules.
"The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority. We accept this case," Judge Viraphol Tangsuwan said.
The court also appointed Tangsuwan, vice president of the Supreme Court, as the judge advocate in charge of the case.
Yingluck was charged by public prosecutors with having violated the Criminal Code and the Anti-Corruption Act in the rice-pledging case.
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She is not accused of corruption herself but of failing to prevent alleged graft in the programme.
Thailand's attorney general filed criminal charges against Yingluck in February, accusing her of "dereliction of duty" over the populist but loss making rice scheme.
Yingluck did not attend the Bangkok court today but will be legally obliged to attend the first hearing in May.
In a statement on her Facebook page published shortly after the ruling, she defended the controversial scheme as one which "lifted the quality of life for rice farmers".
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The decision to prosecute Yingluck is likely to deepen the long-running political crisis in the military-ruled nation.
Yingluck is the younger sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra who is on a self-imposed exile in Dubai after his ouster in a coup in 2006. Thaksin's influence is still there in Thai politics.
ADVERTISEMENT
The decision could spell the end of her family's political dominance.
The rice subsidy programme, introduced in 2011, pledged to pay farmers well above the market rate for their crop.
But critics said it wasted large amounts of public funds trying to please rural voters, hurting exports and leaving the government with large stockpiles of rice it couldn't sell without losing money.
Anger over the scheme played a role in the protests that led to the downfall of Yingluck's government and a military coup in May last year.
In January, Thailand's military-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted in favour of impeaching Yingluck for her role in the rice programme.
Though the vote was largely symbolic, as she had already lost her post, it carries a five-year ban from politics.
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