AFP, Bangkok :
Thailand’s former premier Yingluck Shinawatra was Thursday ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence over a bungled rice subsidy scheme, in a case that could see her jailed for up to a decade.
The decision is the latest legal move against Yingluck-Thailand’s first female prime minister and sister of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra-that could spell the end of her family’s political dominance. The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.
“The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority,” said judge Veeraphol Tangsuwan at Bangkok’s Supreme Court, adding that the first hearing will be held on May 19.
Thailand’s attorney general filed criminal charges against Yingluck in February, accusing her of “dereliction of duty” in relation to the populist but economically disastrous rice scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.
Thailand’s former premier Yingluck Shinawatra was Thursday ordered to stand trial on charges of negligence over a bungled rice subsidy scheme, in a case that could see her jailed for up to a decade.
The decision is the latest legal move against Yingluck-Thailand’s first female prime minister and sister of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra-that could spell the end of her family’s political dominance. The Shinawatras, or parties allied to them, have won every Thai election since 2001.
“The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority,” said judge Veeraphol Tangsuwan at Bangkok’s Supreme Court, adding that the first hearing will be held on May 19.
Thailand’s attorney general filed criminal charges against Yingluck in February, accusing her of “dereliction of duty” in relation to the populist but economically disastrous rice scheme, which paid farmers in the rural Shinawatra heartland twice the market rate for their crops.
