Yingluck’s great escape

For quite some time, the whereabouts of Yingluck Shinawatra remained one of the largest mysteries. On August 25, the former prime minister failed to appear at a Supreme Court hearing for the verdict of a long-running trial on her controversial rice-pledging scheme. Her lawyer told the judge Yingluck was having issues with fluid in her ears, which rendered her unfit for court.

Theories among media outlets proliferated—some speculated she had left for Singapore, others said she had gone to Dubai to visit her fugitive brother Thaksin Shinawatra before finally flying out to London.

Yingluck’s two passports—one standard, the other diplomatic—were promptly cancelled by the Foreign Ministry. She was thought to be seeking political asylum status in the United Kingdom.

A theory posited that Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha’s military government helped facilitate Yingluck’s escape.

The Supreme Court’s verdict, read on the rescheduled date of September 27, announced that an 8-1 ruling would have dealt Yingluck a five-year prison term for criminal negligence and malfeasance in her cabinet’s government-to-government (G2G) rice stock sales. It indicated that the former prime minister was aware of rice deal-related damage incurred by fraud due to alerts from state agencies, no-confidence debates and parliamentary inquiries, as well as appeals by media and politicians, and failed to stop the plan’s implementation.

According to the verdict, Yingluck, who also served as chair of the National Rice Policy Committee, had assigned Weerawut Wajanaphukka, former assistant secretary to the commerce minister, to sit on several committees to determine the viability of the rice-pledging scheme. He was also found guilty in the G2G rice deal case.

Following the verdict, the coup body, the National Council for Peace and Order, sent a legal official to file a police complaint against a former deputy chief of Metropolitan Police Division 5, Pol Col Chairit Anurit, accusing him of assisting Yingluck’s escape in August.