- A Thai court has acquitted former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of misusing government project funds in 2013.
- Yingluck’s younger brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was recently released on parole on corruption-related charges after more than a decade in exile.
- Thaksin has been in legal trouble for nearly two decades, accused of abuse of power and corruption, and could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if convicted of defaming the royal family.
A Thai court on Monday acquitted exiled former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on charges of mishandling government project funds in 2013, the latest law for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s powerful family. It was a decisive victory.
The ruling came shortly after Yingluck’s younger brother Thaksin was released on parole on corruption-related charges. He returned home last year after more than 10 years in self-imposed exile, but was detained in a hospital for six months before being granted amnesty due to his age and health.
Her release after nearly two decades of animosity between Thaksin’s populist political machine and Thailand’s conservative royalist ruling class has fueled speculation that Yingluck may also return soon. Ta.
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This is the latest favorable ruling for Ms Yingluck, who served as prime minister from 2011 until she was ousted in 2014. In December, the same court acquitted Yingluck of abuse of power charges related to personnel changes she oversaw.
Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrives at the Supreme Court to give her final statement at her criminal negligence trial in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 1, 2017. On March 4, 2024, a Thai court dropped charges against former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, now in exile, for mishandling government project spending in 2013. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
However, she would also need a pardon from King Maha Vajiralongkorn or some other form of amnesty in order for her to return to Thailand without being jailed. In 2017, she was sentenced in default for allegedly failing to implement a rice subsidy program that cost the government billions of dollars, estimated at 500 billion baht ($14 billion).
Yingluck and her supporters maintained that she was innocent and was being persecuted to dismantle Thaksin’s political machine. Her boyfriend was accused of abuse of power, corruption and disrespect for the monarchy, and she was ousted from power in a military coup in 2006.
The Thai Contribution Party, supported by Thaksin supporters, won power last year through a general election in a coalition with a military party linked to the coup that twice ousted the Thaksin family from power, and Thaksin’s daughter Petontran became its leader. He became the future prime minister. .
The judges are accused of mishandling $6.7 million earmarked for a roadshow to pitch investors for an ambitious infrastructure project, according to a statement from a special arm of the Supreme Court’s criminal division. Yingluck and five other defendants were unanimously acquitted. politician.
Yingluck, now 56, is Thailand’s first female prime minister. Ponchada Siribunnabod, a political scientist at Thailand’s Mahidol University, said her acquittal showed that Thaksin’s family was once again gaining influence.
Thaksin’s supporters, who handed him an unprecedented electoral victory, say his only attack is against the country’s traditional elite, led by the monarchists and the military and supported by the urban middle class. I believe that it was to challenge the power of the.
His release appeared to reflect a rapprochement with his opponents in Thailand’s conservative elite, who believed his brash populist politics and electoral popularity posed a threat to them and the monarchy.
Even after Mr. Thaksin’s ouster, his favored party continued to dominate in opinion polls. However, in last year’s election, the Thai Contribution Party came in a close second to the more progressive Forward Party, although its proposals for military and monarchy reform outweighed the return of a softened Thai Contribution Party. This also alarmed conservative royalists. He pursued an anti-military government policy and aspired to return to power.
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Yingluck’s acquittal is another sign of the establishment’s rapprochement with Shinawatra in an effort to meet the growing challenge of the Forward Party, Punchida said.
“This is the way conservatives and establishment organizations want this to happen, because they don’t think the conservatives themselves can counter the growing popularity of the Forward Party. So they’re using Thaksin and the Pro-Thai Party as one. “This is one of the factors that will allow us to balance power with the Progressive Party,” Punchida said.
Despite his release, Mr. Thaksin remains in legal jeopardy. The Attorney General’s Office said it was still investigating the royal defamation charges made against Thaksin nearly nine years ago. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
