Thailand ’s Fugitive Former Leader Has Been Sentenced After Skipping Court

(BANGKOK) — A Thai court has sentenced former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in absentia to five years in prison for alleged negligence in a money-losing rice subsidy program. Yingluck, who says the charges are politically motivated, is believed to have fled the country last month before the court session at which the verdict initially was to have been delivered. Yingluck’s government was overthrown in a military coup in 2014. She and her supporters said she was innocent and was persecuted as part of an effort to dismantle the political machine of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications tycoon. Thaksin was toppled from power by a 2006 military coup after being accused of abuse of power, corruption and disrespect for the country’s monarchy. He is living in self-imposed exile to avoid serving a prison term for what he calls a politically motivated 2008 conviction on a conflict of interest charge. Yingluck, who inherited the leadership of Thaksin’s political machine and was elected prime minister in 2011, became a proxy target for his enemies as well. The rice subsidy scheme was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the 2011 general election. The government paid farmers about 50% above what they would have received on the world market, with the intention of driving up prices by warehousing the grain. Read More: Thailand Issues an Arrest Warrant for Its Former Prime Minister After She Fa...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized onetime Thailand Source Type: news