Thailand's anti-graft panel votes to impeach “Yingluck”

BANGKOK, May 8 (TNA) - The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has voted unanimously to impeach Yingluck Shinawatra on charge of derelicting her duty in her administration’s loss-ridden rice-pledging scheme. The independent NACC made the decision with 7:0 vote on Thursday afternoon, after its hours-long meeting, reasoning that Yingluck, who was also the chair of the government-run National Rice Policy Committee, failed to stop the controversial rice-pledging scheme, which then cost the state a huge loss of about 300 billion baht. The anti-graft commission’s decision came one day after Bangkok's Constitutional Court ruled to dismiss Yingluck from her caretaker prime minister's status, along with nine other Cabinet members, for their involvement in the past unlawful transfer of Thawil Pliensri from the secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC) position in 2011. The anti-graft panel must then ask the Senate to dismiss Yingluck within 30 days, after its indictment against her. The rice-pledging scheme was launched in 2011, aimed to boost Thai farmers' income, but it has resulted in the great loss, caused by alleged corruption, and the accumulation of huge stockpiles of unsold Thai rice. (TNA)