Ousted Thai PM Yingluck pleads not guilty as negligence trial begins

AFP
BANGKOK, MAY 19

Thailand’s ousted premier Yingluck Shinawatra was today banned from travelling abroad even as she pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence charges in a controversial rice subsidy scheme that could jail her for 10 years, in the latest legal tangle seen as a bid to keep her powerful family out of power.
During the brief hearing at the Supreme Court, the country’s first, and only, woman premier pleaded not guilty to charges of dereliction of duty and abuse of authority in administering the flagship scheme after charges were read out to her as the trial began.
The court granted bail to the 47-year-old embattled leader – whose administration was toppled in a military coup nearly a year ago – on condition that she does not leave the country without written permission and fixed the next hearing for July 21.
The losses estimated at more than 500 billion baht (around USD 15 billion) were incurred when her government bought rice from farmers at higher than prevailing market prices but failed to resell much of it. In what can further delay the general elections in the politically-divided country, Thailand cabinet and the junta agreed at a meeting today to hold a public referendum on the newly-drafted constitution.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters that the process would take about three months and affect the political roadmap laid out by the junta after the coup.According to critics, the newly-drafted constitution is aimed at preventing Yingluck’s elder brother and former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is on self-imposed exile, to make a political comeback after he was deposed in a 2006 coup.
The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001 but opponents have accused them of corruption and disastrous policies. The family has faced two coups and had three of their premiers removed by courts.
In a rare public remark, Thaksin said “the key to good governance and democracy is you have to strike a balance” between the judicial, legislative and executive branches.
“And also you have to observe the rule of law, which is a very important asset for each country to be credible,” he said in Seoul at the Asian Leadership Conference, without specifically referring to Thailand.
His sister Yingluck was impeached by the country’s military-appointed parliament in January over the rice subsidy scheme and banned her from politics for five years.
A guilty conviction that carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years could upset the political ambitions of her family – the powerful Shinawatra clan.
During the trial regarding her government’s popular rice-pledging scheme, that cost billions of dollars and triggered protests that toppled her government, Yingluck said she would submit a written defence statement to the court on July 3.
Yingluck’s lawyer said the court set her bail amount at 30 million baht or USD 900,000. The defendant placed a bank account as surety.
The court set July 21 and 28 for the first examination of evidence and witnesses, and ordered Yingluck to appear before the court at all hearings. If unable to attend, she must submit a request with sound reasons.
Earlier, on her arrival outside the court, Yingluck was warmly received by many supporters, a rare sight in Thailand where political gatherings of more than five persons remain banned by the junta. They chanted “Yingluck, fight, fight!” as her convoy arrived.
“I am confident that I am innocent and I hope the court will give me justice and allow everything to proceed in accordance with the law,” Yingluck had told reporters.
The former prime minister is not accused of personal corruption but is charged with dereliction of duty and abuse of authority in failing to stop graft and losses in the rice scheme, according to the Criminal Code and Counter Corruption Act.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has accused Yingluck of using the rice-pledging scheme to gain votes from farmers and win the national general election in 2011.
The flagship rice programme had helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the 2011 elections and the former premier has argued the policy was aimed at helping poor farmers.
Surasak Trirattrakul, inquiry director of the Office of the Attorney General, said the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions had ordered Yingluck to appear to hear the charges and enter her plea.
The move could trigger fresh tensions in the politically divided nation that is still under martial law after the military seized power in May last year.
Yingluck’s supporters have also said the proceedings are part of a wider campaign to end the influence of the Shinawatra clan.
Today’s move is the latest in nearly a decade of turbulent politics in Thailand where the royalist-military establishment sees the Shinawatras as a threat and criticise their populist policies.
The trial begins on a day that also marks the fifth anniversary of a fierce army crackdown against demonstrators backing the Shinawatras in which dozens of people were killed.