Thailand lawmakers to vote on Yingluck impeachment
Former Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra to be charged over rice scheme
(about 1 hour later)
Thailand's legislature is to rule on the political fate of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra with a vote on whether to impeach her.
Former Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra will face a criminal charge over a controversial rice subsidy scheme, the attorney general's office says.
Ms Yingluck is accused of dereliction of duty in a controversial rice subsidy scheme which critics say cost the government billions and funnelled money to her party's power base.
The news came as the legislature prepared to vote on whether to impeach her for dereliction of duty over the same scheme.
She was removed from office in May 2014 just before the military coup.
Critics say the rice policy cost the government billions and funnelled money to her party's power base.
Her supporters say the court action is a ruse to remove her from politics.
Ms Yingluck was removed from office in May 2014 just before a military coup.
Ms Yingluck will be impeached if at least 132 members of Thailand's 220-strong National Legislative Assembly vote in favour of the move. If impeached, she faces a five-year ban from politics.
Her supporters say the claims against her are a ruse to remove her from politics.
The legislature has been handpicked by the military junta which ousted Ms Yingluck's government.
Ms Yingluck's party is the most popular in Thailand and has - under various different names - won every election since 2001.
No longer in power
Surasak Threerattrakul, director-general of the Office of the Attorney General, said after considering all the witnesses and evidence from the National Anti-Corruption Committee "we agree that the case substantiates a criminal indictment charge against Yingluck".
Ms Yingluck, in her statements to the assembly, has repeatedly denied accusations of corruption and pointed out that she no longer holds any position in the government.
If found guilty, she could be jailed for up to 10 years. If the military-backed legislature also votes to impeach her she will be immediately banned from politics for five years.
"There is no position to remove me from as the Constitutional Court has already removed me as prime minister," she said in her final statement on Thursday.
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the criminal charges on the same day as the vote are a clear indication that Thailand's military rulers have decided she must be removed from any future role in politics.
She added that a five-year ban on political activity would be "a violation of my basic rights" and claimed that the case was "politically driven".
The case concerns a scheme under which Ms Yingluck's government bought rice from Thai farmers - part of her rural support base - at a much higher price than on the global market.
It resulted in the accumulation of huge stockpiles of rice and hit Thailand's rice exports hard.
Ms Yingluck has maintained that she was not involved in the day-to-day running of the scheme. On Thursday she defended it as an attempt to support the rural poor.
Analysis, Jonathan Head, Bangkok
When General Prayuth seized power he said it was for the good of the country and that he was not taking sides. He has done little to satisfy the demands from opponents of the ousted government that its leaders should be punished. Which helps explain why the government's supporters have remained quiet, despite anger over the coup.
The impeachment of Yingluck Shinawatra would change that. It would suggest that talk of a possible grand bargain between the military and Ms Yingluck's exiled brother Thaksin has come to nothing. It would also suggest that those who have argued that the Shinawatra clan must be purged have the upper hand.
Those pushing for impeachment argue that there was so much waste and corruption in the rice subsidy scheme that Ms Yingluck must be held accountable.
There is plenty of evidence to back these allegations. But no-one has yet been tried or convicted. Impeachment is supposed to remove a sitting politician from office for failings - but Ms Yingluck no longer holds office. And she is being judged by an unelected assembly whose members were appointed by the generals who deposed her government.
Her supporters are bound to see this as a political manoeuvre to remove her and her election-winning party from the scene so they cannot make a comeback once democratic rule is restored.
Correspondents say that the case is the first divisive issue that has emerged since last year's coup, which ended months of intense and sometimes violent political deadlock between Ms Yingluck's supporters and those trying to oust her government.
Ms Yingluck and her brother, tycoon and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, remain hugely popular among Thailand's rural poor, but are hated by an urban and middle-class elite who accuse them of corruption and abuse of power.
There are fears that a possible conviction could re-ignite protests. But Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the "red-shirt" supporters of Ms Yingluck, broadcast a message on his television show on Thursday urging supporters not to take to the streets, reported AFP.
Thailand has been under martial law, which bans political gatherings, since the military took power in May 2014 and coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha became prime minister.
