Former Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra indicted over rice subsidy scheme

Former Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra was indicted over a bungled rice subsidy scheme on Thursday in the latest legal move against her family that could see her jailed for up to a decade.

Thailand’s junta-stacked government is also considering launching a civil suit against Yingluck, the nation’s first female prime minister, to seek US$18 billion in compensation for damages caused by the scheme introduced by her government.

The indictment comes after Yingluck was retroactively impeached last month by an assembly appointed by the junta which seized power from her elected government last May.

“We have indicted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ... for dereliction of duty” in relation to the costly rice scheme, said Chutichai Sakhakorn, a director-general at Thailand’s attorney general, which filed the criminal charges.

The Supreme Court will decide whether or not to accept the case on March 19.

The ousted premier has been banned from leaving the country since authorities announced she would face charges over the populist subsidy scheme on the same day she was impeached, a move that carries an automatic five-year ban from politics.