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Thailand's attorney-general files negligence charges against former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra
ABC Radio Australia - February 19, 2015
The one-time popular leader was removed from the role just before last year's military coup. She now faces up to 10 years' jail after being charged with negligence over a botched rice subsidy scheme.
Thailand's military appointed attorney-general has formally filed the charges in the Supreme Court.
Charges against her include one under the anti-corruption law and two of negligence, for her role in a subsidy scheme that paid farmers above market prices for their rice that has cost the state billions of dollars.
She denies wrongdoing and her supporters claim the move is designed to end the political influence of the Shinawatra family, including Yingluck's brother Thaksin who lives in exile.
The Supreme Court will decide on March 19 whether or not to pursue the case.
It has been a tumultuous year for Yingluck, Thailand's first woman prime minister, who was deposed days before a May coup that followed months of street protests and occupations of government buildings.
Yingluck was ordered to step down after a court found her guilty of abuse of power, days before the army took power.
She was also banned from office for five years in January after Thailand's military-stacked legislature found her guilty of dereliction of duty in relation to the rice scheme.
Despite winning every election since 2006, parties allied to Thaksin have never served a full term in office since then because of court decisions or military intervention.
Shinawatra supporters accuse the courts of bias in ruling against governments loyal to Thaksin and of siding with the elite. (ABC/Reuters)
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