简体中文
By APD Writer Chen Jiabao
BANGKOK, Aug 28 (APD) - Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Monday that procedures will be performed to revoke the fugitive ex-prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra's passport.
Prayut was in response to media who asked him what to do the next after Yingluck fled.
"A passport revocation is a normal procedure. We will see what can be done in accordance with laws."said the prime minister.
Prayut has asked people to give security authorities more time to investigation the flight instead of blaming them. He reiterated that he has no ideas of which country has Yingluck fled to.
The prime minister spurned speculations that the government cut a deal with Yingluck and green lighted her escape.
The supreme court was to deliver a verdict against Yingluck over her loss-ridden rice pledging case on last Friday. Yingluck stunned the nation by her no-show to the court, claiming too sick to show up.
The court issued an arrest warrant on her on the same day and postponed the verdict to Sep 27.
The whereabouts of Yingluck are still unknown. Some sources said she fled to Dubai and has met her elder brother ex-prime minister Thaksin, which are not officially confirmed yet.
Yingluck was accused of dereliction of duty over her alleged failure to halt devastation from her rice-pledging scheme. Under the multi-billion dollar subsidy scheme, Yingluck's government bought rice from farmers at inflated prices, leading to unsold stockpiles, distorted world prices and losses of 8 billion U.S. dollars.
Yingluck attended every hearing during the past two years as ordered. She denied all wrongdoing. She has been prohibited to leave the country since 2015.
The foreign ministry of Thailand revoked two passports held by Thaksin in 2015 due to he disseminated harmful information that would hurt national security.
Thaksin was ousted in a military coup and has been living in exile since 2008 to avoid a corruption conviction.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
