Thailand’s top court on Wednesday sentenced ousted premier Yingluck Shinawata to five years in prison for criminal negligence, a verdict read in absentia after she fled the kingdom last month. But the Supreme Court in Bangkok deemed her guilty on Wednesday, saying she failed to stop corruption and losses in the rice programme. But there are widespread reports she joined her billionaire brother Thaksin, a former prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup, in Dubai. “There was corruption in every step if the rice pledging programme,” the court verdict said, adding that it cost the country nearly $10 billion. Analysts say Yingluck likely cut a deal with the military leaders, who are bent on erasing her powerful clan from the political scene.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 27, 2017 09:11 UTC