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Thai Court Sets New Date for Yingluck Verdict, to Seek Arrest Warrant

by Reuters

   BANGKOK / KHON KAEN, THAILAND --

   Thailand's Supreme Court on Friday said it would seek permission for an
   arrest warrant for former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra after she
   failed to show up to hear the court's verdict in a negligence case
   against her.

   The court set a new date of Sept. 27 for the verdict. The court said
   Yingluck, who had pleaded not guilty in the case focused on a rice
   subsidy scheme for farmers, had told the court she could not attend due
   as she was suffering from an ear problem.

   "We don't think that the defendant is ill. We think that the defendant
   is hiding or has fled ... We have pushed back the verdict date to
   September 27," a statement from a Supreme Court judge said. "She asked
   for sick leave not to show up today."

   A spokeswoman for Yingluck, who was ousted by a military coup in 2014,
   declined to comment.

   Hundreds of Yingluck's supporters had gathered outside Bangkok's
   Supreme Court early Friday, hours before the court was due to rule on
   the case, in which she faces up to 10 years in prison.

   Bangkok's metropolitan police said about 4,000 police were deployed at
   the court and checkpoints had been set up.

   A rice subsidy program -- a flagship policy of Yingluck's
   administration -- saw her government buy farmers' crops at prices up to
   50 percent higher than market prices. The policy was popular with
   farmers but left Thailand with huge rice stockpiles and caused $8
   billion in losses.

   Yingluck, who has pleaded not guilty to the negligence charges against
   her, has said she was only in charge of coming up with the policy but
   not the day-to-day management of the scheme.

   'Family dominated

   The Shinawatra family has dominated Thai politics for more than 15
   years and their parties have won every general election since 2001, but
   it is at the heart of a bitter and bloody power struggle in Thailand.

   Yingluck's brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was
   ousted in a 2006 coup. Supporters of the Shinawatras accuse the ruling
   generals of political persecution.

   The military government has acknowledged it wants to maintain permanent
   influence over future elected governments, partly through a new
   constitution that took effect earlier this year.

   Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led the 2014 coup against
   Yingluck's government, has said the coup was aimed at ending political
   turmoil in the country. He has promised that an election will be held
   next year.

   Regardless of whether she is found guilty, Yingluck will not be able to
   run in that election because she was banned from politics for five
   years in 2015 by the junta's legislature for alleged graft in the
   rice-purchasing program.