Thai ex-PM Yingluck impeached
January 23, 2015
Thailand's parliament on Friday voted to impeach former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her role in managing a failed state rice subsidy scheme that lost billions of dollars.
The move came just hours after prosecutors separately announced their intention to indict her for alleged negligence and corruption connected with the same program.
The parliamentary vote means that Yingluck, the kingdom's first female prime minister, will be banned from politics for half a decade, while, if the indictment goes ahead and she is convicted, she could face 10 years in jail.
Blow to exports
The rice subsidy program, which involved buying rice from farmers - Yingluck's voter base - at around twice the market rate, was an economic disaster, with regional competitors easily able to undercut Thailand's exports, leaving the country with huge stockpiles that it was unable to sell. Public anger over the scheme's failure led to widespread protests that finally brought down her government.
Yingluck was removed from office in May in a controversial court ruling shortly before the military seized power in a coup.
Yingluck's supporters see the moves by parliament and prosecutors as attempts by the country's royalist elite, backed by the army, to deal a final blow to the political influence of the Shinawatra family, whose parties have won every election since 2001. The decisions could fan the flames of divisions that have caused a decade of political turmoil and coups in the Southeast Asian nation.
Most members of the parliament either belong to the military or to groups opposing Yingluck and past governments allied with her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living in exile since being ousted in a 2006 coup.
'Unjust practice'
In an appearance before parliament on Thursday, Yingluck questioned the fairness of an investigation by the anti-corruption commission, which had recommended an indictment.
"The rice subsidy scheme was run by groups of people. It was a resolution of the cabinet ... why am I singled out?" Yingluck asked.
"To bring the case against me alone, therefore, shows a hidden agenda under an unjust practice, and is a political agenda."
National Anti-Corruption Commissioner Wicha Mahakhun, however, defended the planned charges, saying Yingluck had ignored warning signs of the program's failure.
tj/sms (AFP, AP)