Deposed Thai PM facing five-year ban from politics

HOT WATER: Anti-graft officials said that they are still considering whether Yingluck Shinawatra should face criminal charges over a costly rice subsidy scheme

AFP, BANGKOK

Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra faces a possible five-year ban from politics after anti-graft officials ruled yesterday that she should face impeachment proceedings, a move sure to further enrage her supporters.

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However, the National Anti-Corruption Commission said that it would not extend its probe into a costly rice subsidy scheme to the rest of the caretaker Cabinet as feared by officials of the battered ruling party.

That could have seen the Cabinet ousted and sent the kingdom spinning into a deeper political crisis.

“The commission considers there is enough evidence to indict [Yingluck] and refers [the case] to the Senate,” Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission President Panthep Klanarongran told reporters.

If found guilty by the upper house, Yingluck could face a five-year ban from politics.

The commission said is is still considering whether Yingluck should face criminal charges, which could see her given a prison term.

Her billionaire elder brother, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, lives overseas to avoid a prison sentence for corruption that he contends was politically motivated in the wake of his ousting by an army coup in 2006.

Thailand remains stuck in a political quagmire with the ailing government staggering on, despite a slew of legal challenges and protests on Bangkok’s streets.

Anti-government protesters, who accuse the Shinawatras of poisoning Thailand with corruption, said they would appoint a new government today — a move that would risk further political violence.

“Tomorrow [Friday] we will take steps toward appointing a new government,” protest spokesman Akanat Promphan said, adding that the government had lost “all legitimacy.”

The protesters are known for their hyperbolic statements and it was not immediately clear what legal basis their vow was based on, but Akanat said the Thai constitution has an article that may enable the appointment of a new executive body by the Senate.

The appointment of a new Thai prime minister by the anti-government group “is the red line not to be crossed,” Thailand-based author and academic David Streckfuss said.

“The Red Shirts will rise en masse,” he said, referring to Shinawatra supporters who are due to hold a mass rally tomorrow in a Bangkok suburb.

The commission’s decision comes a day after the Constitutional Court removed Yingluck from office for abusing her power in the 2011 transfer of a security official.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party swiftly appointed Thai Commerce Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan as her replacement and vowed to push for new elections on July 20 to cut a path through the turmoil.