Fugitive former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra could return to Thailand next year following in the footsteps of her brother, jailed ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, according to political activist Jatuporn Prompan.
The former red-shirt leader was commenting following two developments earlier this week. First, former deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, a legal expert recently appointed to the Council of State, weighed in on Monday with his view of what Yingluck would need to do.
If Yingluck decided to return from her self-imposed exile, she would have to go through the judicial system before seeking a royal pardon, just like her older brother, said Mr Wissanu.
Yingluck was sentenced in 2017 to five years in prison in absentia for dereliction of duty over a rice-pledging programme that ran up at least 500 billion baht in losses, some of it from corruption.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions acquitted her of malfeasance over the 2011 transfer of National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Thawil Pliensri, who was shifted to work as an adviser to the prime minister.
The cabinet subsequently approved the appointment of Pol Gen Wichean Potephosree, who was then national police chief, to replace Mr Thawil at the NSC, creating a vacancy in the top post at the Royal Thai Police.
After that Yingluck, as the ex-officio chair of the Police Commission, proposed that Pol Gen Priewphan Damapong, then deputy police chief and a relative of hers, be appointed national police chief.
Pol Gen Priewphan is a brother of Thaksin’s former wife Potjaman Na Pombejra.
Mr Jatuporn, former chairman of the pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said the prospects for Yingluck appeared clearer in light of how her brother has fared since coming back to Thailand on Aug 22.
The day he returned, Thaksin was sentenced to eight years in prison in three cases — later reduced to one year under a royal pardon — for abuse of authority and conflict of interest while serving as premier prior to 2006.
“Based on the practice in Thaksin’s case, the procedure for Yingluck would be the same. So I believe we will see her return after the New Year,” he said.
In an interview in June when Thaksin’s homecoming was announced, Yingluck, 56, expressed her desire to return home and said: “But it’s up to fate. I have to live with it today and wait for the timing.”
She fled the country in August 2017, shortly before the court handed down its ruling against her. A warrant for her arrest in the rice-pledging case is still active.
After the Supreme Court threw out the malfeasance case this week, there remains only one case against Yingluck pending in court — alleged wasteful spending and corruption in 2013 on a public relations campaign.
A group that has been campaigning for transparency in the case of Thaksin, who spent just 13 hours behind bars before being transferred to a hospital, said Yingluck could come home at any time but she must respect the judicial system.
If she received privileged treatment following her return, it would add fuel to the fire and the Srettha Thavisin administration would be short-lived, said Pichit Chaimongkol, leader of the Network of Students and People Reforming Thailand.
The ruling Pheu Thai Party, now led by Thaksin’s daughter, Paetongtarn, would be committing political suicide if it allowed such privilege, he added.