Yingluck makes last-minute decision to flee Thailand?

World
Europe

Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who failed to appear in court at her ruling over a rice subsidy scandal on Friday, reportedly made a "last-minute decision" to flee Thailand, fearing a harsh sentence.

According to a Reuters report on Monday, Yingluck's aids thought she still intended to appear on Friday after the former prime minister released fish at the Temple of the Bells near Bangkok's Chaophraya River on Wednesday morning.

"She chose to leave because she heard from her sources that the court would give her a heavy sentence and would not grant her bail," said one source close to Yingluck. "She's not a last-minute person. She always plans things very carefully. This was a last-minute decision."

She fled with two aides but left her 15-year-old son in Thailand, the source said. Another aide said she was gone by Thursday afternoon.

Supporters of ousted former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra wait for her at the Supreme Court in Bangkok, Thailand, August 25, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Social divide

Yingluck, ousted by a military coup in 2014, went to Dubai in the UAE to join her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, another former Thai Prime Minister who was toppled in an earlier coup in 2006, aides and other sources Yingluck's Puea Thai Party told Reuters.

Thailand's Supreme Court has issued an arrest warrant for Yingluck and the Thai police are investigating into possible routes that she could have taken after leaving the country.

Thai media have said she took a private jet from Cambodia to Singapore and then to Dubai.

The first female prime minister of Thailand could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted in a negligence case brought by the ruling junta over her role in a rice subsidy scheme, in which her government bought rice from farmers at up to 50 percent higher than market prices, resulting in multi-billion dollar losses.

Members of the Yellow Shirts gather against a proposed reconciliation debate outside the parliament building in Bangkok, Thailand, June 1, 2012. /AFP Photo

The scheme, which contributed to Yingluck's political demise, was part of her campaign promise to boost rural income levels. Her policies were a continuation of her brother, who successfully tapped into the aspirations of the country's underdogs from the populous northern and northeastern regions.

After Thaksin's fall in 2006, supporters of him and his sister staged several major protests against the junta, wearing red shirts. In the meantime, their opponents, who held counter demonstrations, were known as the "yellow shirts."

The case has highlighted a deep divide in Thai society, as Yingluck and her brother are still highly popular among the rural poor, but their opponents wanted the ruling to seal the end of the Shinawatras' political life.