It's true - it's Pu

Foreign Minister confirms Yingluck in London since Sept

Former and fugitive prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is seen in the picture taken on Aug 1, 2017, when she delivered her closing statement on her rice-pledging case at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division.
Former and fugitive prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is seen in the picture taken on Aug 1, 2017, when she delivered her closing statement on her rice-pledging case at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division.

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai confirmed on Tuesday that fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been in London since September and possibly carries a foreign passport as her Thai passports were revoked.

Mr Don said the British Foreign Secretary had given him the information. However, he had no information as to Yingluck's status in the UK or whether she had applied for asylum or a visa there.

Mr Don said Yingluck may have used a passport issued by another country to enter the UK, because all four of her Thai passports were officially revoked.

Asked if the government will try to speed up the process of Yingluck's extradition to Thailand to face justice, Mr Don said the matter will be considered from every angle.

He refused to comment when asked if the government would be able to oppose any request for asylum in the UK. He said only that Yingluck being in the UK does not affect Thai-UK relations.

A fresh photo said to be of Yingluck and a friend, taken in London during the New Year period, went viral early last week. It followed an earlier photo of a woman resembling Yingluck which surfaced late last month and was reported to have been taken on Dec 26 at Westfield Shopping Centre in West London.

The latest picture supposedly shows the ex-premier with a Thai woman outside Harrod's in London. National police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibraham said the photo was probably authentic.

Yingluck disappeared shortly before Aug 25 when the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions was scheduled to deliver judgement in her rice-pledging scheme corruption trial.

In her absence the court postponed the ruling to Sept 27, when it handed Yingluck a five-year jail term for failure to stop false and corrupt government-to-government sales of rice from the rice programme even though she had been told of the irregularities. It also issued a fresh warrant for her arrest.

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Vocabulary

  • angle: point of view; perspective; a particular way of considering or understanding something - ทัศนคติ
  • asylum: the right to stay in a country, given by a government to protect someone who has escaped from war or political trouble in their own country - การลี้ภัย
  • authentic: real, not false or copied - ของแท้
  • extradition: sending someone accused of a crime back to the country where the crime was committed for trial or punishment - การส่งผู้ร้ายข้ามแดน
  • irregularity: a situation in which the rules, laws, or usual ways of doing things have not been followed - การปฏิบัติที่ไม่เป็นไปตามระเบียบปกติ
  • relations: official dealings between countries - ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างประเทศ
  • resemble (verb): to be like or look like someone or something else - มีลักษณะคล้ายกับ
  • revoke: to officially say that something is no longer legal - เพิกถอน
  • rice-pledging scheme: a government programme in which farmers sell rice to the government at a particular price, with the right to reclaim the rice if the market price goes higher - โครงการจำนำข้าว
  • status: official or legal position - สถานภาพ
  • surface: to become known or seen - เป็นที่รู้, ปรากฏ, เปิดเผย
  • viral: (of a video, photo, story, etc.) spread across the internet very quickly (like a virus spreading a disease) as people share it with their friends or the news media reports on it - แพร่กระจายผ่านทางอินเทอร์เน็ตอย่างรวดเร็ว
  • warrant (noun): a legal document that is signed by a judge and gives the police authority to do something - หมาย
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