Thai PM Confirms Yingluck In Dubai

By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa BANGKOK, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra who was sentenced to five years’ jail yesterday is currently in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), said Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha on Thursday. The information on her whereabouts confirmed media speculation on her escape to Dubai last month, where her older brother, exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra owns a house there. "As far as I know, I have been unofficially informed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that she (Yingluck) is in Dubai now," he told the media at the Government House, here, Thursday. There was a need to file an extradition request as the suspect had been found living in a foreign country, said the prime minister. According to Prayut, the Foreign Ministry and police would need to sort out their next course of action following Wednesday's court verdict on Yingluck, as well as to seek the cooperation of Interpol. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan when met later, said the Gulf State had informed the Foreign Ministry that Yingluck would not be allowed to have any political movement. "I don't know," he replied, when asked by the media whether he trusted the assurance that Yingluck would not have any political movement while in Dubai. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found Yingluck guilty of negligence in the controversial rice-pledging scheme and sentenced her in absentia to five years in jail. The government had alleged the scheme which was implemented when she was in power had cost the state billions in losses. Yingluck who came into power in 2011 after winning the election was ousted by the military in 2014. She has not been seen in public or made any statement since failing to appear in court last month. Her no-show in court sparked intense speculation that she had fled the country for a life in exile like her older brother. The media speculated that she had sneaked out of the country via the Thai-Cambodian border before making her way to Singapore and later to Dubai. The government, which has since launched an investigation over Yingluck’s disappearance, arrested three police officers, including a colonel, several days ago, on suspicion of having helped the former prime minister flee the country. It also seized a Toyota Camry car suspected to have been used as Yingluck’s getaway vehicle. -- BERNAMA