Ex-Thai prime minister bags 5-yrs prison sentence in absentia for graft

Former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been sentenced to a five-year prison term by a court in Thailand after she was found guilty of negligence in a rice subsidy case.

“The court found that the defendant is guilty as charged…the court has sentenced her to five years in prison and the court also unanimously agreed that the sentence will not be suspended,” the judge said.

The ex-prime minister-turned-fugitive was not present in court, which sentenced her to five years over subsidy scandal which normally attracts a maximum penalty of ten years in jail.

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However, the judges did not offer an explanation for why Yingluck was sentenced to five years.

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay in Bangkok said that it took the nine Supreme Court judges four hours to read the verdict.

“The overriding theme of this charge and ultimate conviction is that she did not benefit from the corrupt activities involved in this rice pledging scheme directly,” Hay said.

Yingluck has not attended court hearings, and it is believed that she has been in hiding overseas for a month.

 

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