Yingluck Shinawatra, the former president of Thailand had proclaimed herself innocent and entered a plea of not guilty on Tuesday at the start of a trial that could see her jailed for a decade, which critics say is part of a politically motivated campaign against her family.
Supporters chanted “Yingluck! Yingluck!” as the ex-premier entered the Supreme Court in Bangkok to be formally read the charges against her of dereliction of duty in overseeing a rice subsidy scheme that lost billions of dollars.
Ms. Yingluck said to media, “I am confident in my innocence.” She said, “I hope the court will grant me justice, and that everything will go according to due process under the law.”
Ms. Yingluck was ousted from her post as prime minister by a court decision that came two weeks before the military staged a coup in May 2015.
She had been charged with dereliction in overseeing the controversial rice subsidy programme, which temporarily cost Thailand its crown as the world’s top exporter. The same charges also led to her impeachment in January by the military-appointed legislature, which banned her from politics for five years.
If she had been found guilty then she will faces up to 10 years in prison.
The programme was a flagship policy that helped Ms. Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win elections in 2011, and Ms. Yingluck has argued it was aimed at helping poor farmers who were paid about 50 per cent above what they would get on the world market. The programme, however, racked up losses of at least $4.46 billion as the Thai government stockpiled mass quantities of rice. Prosecutors said Ms. Yingluck ignored multiple warnings from several state agencies about possible corruption none of which has yet been proven in court.
Notify that the National Anti-Corruption Commission earlier this year recommended that the Finance Ministry sue her personally for at least 600 billion baht ($18.4 billion).
Bureau Report
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