Bangkok (AP) – Testimony began last Friday (Jan. 15) in the trial of former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of mismanaging a rice subsidy program.
Last year, Yingluck was banned from politics for five years after a military-appointed legislature judged her guilty of mismanaging the rice program.
The charges against Yingluck in the Supreme Court chamber for political office-holders include dereliction of duty and failure to stop corruption linked to the subsidy scheme, which is estimated to have cost the government billions of dollars.
Thailand’s former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court in Bangkok Thailand, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Yingluck is being tried on charges that while prime minister she mismanaged a rice subsidy program for the country’s farmers, costing the government billions of dollars. The first witnesses testified Friday. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
The rice subsidy program was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party win elections in 2011. Yingluck has argued it was aimed at helping poor farmers, who were paid about 50 percent above what they would have received on the world market. The government evidently hoped it could drive up the world price for rice by warehousing vast supplies, but other producers such as Vietnam took up the slack instead, bumping Thailand from its spot as the world’s leading rice exporter.
The program ended up racking up huge losses. Prosecutors say Yingluck ignored multiple warnings from several state agencies about possible corruption.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission recommended last year that the Finance Ministry sue Yingluck personally for at least 600 billion baht ($18.4 billion).
