Fresh law sinks Yingluck appeal hope, ends career

Fresh law sinks Yingluck appeal hope, ends career

Prayut insists ex-PM in Dubai, source says UK

The rise and fall saga of Yingluck Shinawatra has ended with a brand new law published on Thursday.
The rise and fall saga of Yingluck Shinawatra has ended with a brand new law published on Thursday.

A new law that takes immediate effect closes the door completely on former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's tiny chance of appealing against her five-year jail sentence.

The law has ended her political career.

Yingluck was reported to be in Dubai but left for London on Sept 11, a source in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said yesterday.

Should she seek to appeal against her sentence, she is required to appear in court in person, said Meechai Ruchupan, head of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC), referring to an organic law on the trial procedures of the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.

The law was published in the Royal Gazette Thursday and takes effect Friday.

Mr Meechai, whose committee drafted the law, said the case against Yingluck is now governed by the new law. Under Section 61 of the new law, a defendant who wishes to appeal must do so in person.

He said the statute of limitations in her case does not expire, which implies that if she returns she will be arrested regardless how many years it is from now.

The CDC chairman added that even if Yingluck returns to serve her five-year jail term, she will be banned from politics for life under the 2017 constitution because she was sentenced to imprisonment under the National Anti-Corruption Commission law.

However, Mr Meechai said a new law governing the arrest of people who are temporarily released on bail does not apply to the former prime minister but those who provide clues leading to her detention may receive a reward.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha also revealed yesterday that he heard unofficially from the Foreign Ministry that Yingluck is in Dubai.

Gen Prayut said police will now have to proceed and coordinate with the Foreign Ministry and Interpol and the Foreign Ministry is taking steps to have her passport revoked.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said the UAE has promised to the ministry that it will prohibit Yingluck from engaging in political activities while she is there.

He said the Foreign Ministry has informed the government of Yingluck's whereabouts and she has promised authorities in Dubai that she will steer clear of politics while in the country.

He said "it is good" that she is in Dubai. Thailand has no extradition treaty with the UAE.

Yingluck's whereabouts was disclosed a day after the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Wednesday found her guilty and sentenced her to five years in jail for failing to stop fake government-to-government sales of rice in the controversial rice-pledging scheme.

Police led by deputy national police chief Srivara Ransibrahmanakul yesterday searched Yingluck's house on Soi Yothin Pattana 3 in Bung Kum district, Bangkok after the Criminal Court granted the search warrant.

Pol Lt Gen Srivara said the search was to provide official confirmation that Yingluck was not present and to collect evidence including hair and other DNA samples to assist in a probe to determine if she escaped in a Toyota car.

He said police will have to coordinate with the Foreign Ministry in verifying her whereabouts and seeking to bring her back to face the five-year prison term.

Officials collected 17 items from the ex-premier's house, mostly personal belongings, he said, but declined to reveal the details.

Police also searched a condominium room at JW Boulevard in Bangkok which reportedly belongs to Nilubol Klinprathum, a secretary of Yingluck's who reportedly fled with the former prime minister, to collect DNA samples.

Meanwhile, a highly placed source in the judiciary said yesterday that the judges in Yingluck's case announced individual rulings and voted in two rounds on Wednesday before they delivered the official court ruling.

In the first round of voting, the judges ruled 8-1 to find Yingluck guilty of criminal negligence.

After she was found guilty, in the second round the judges abided by the majority vote and decided on the sentence.

The nine judges voted unanimously to impose a five-year prison sentence without suspension.

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