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11/22/2024 12:09:42 pm

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Thailand’s Ousted Shinawatra Vows to Face Corruption Charges

Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra smiles as she arrives to address reporters in Bangkok in this May 7, 2014 file photo. (REUTERS)

Thailand's former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra vowed to face charges hurled against her over issues of corruption, which she said was hastily executed.

Shinawatra, in her first press conference on Friday after the Thai Constitutional Court removed her from office in May, said she will return to the country once she finished her vacation overseas and expressed her readiness to defend her controversial rice subsidy program.

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The statement came a day after the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) unanimously recommended the filing of charges against the former country head over her alleged failure to stop the rice program which resulted in billions of dollar of losses in Thailand's treasury.

"I insist that I'm not going to abandon the Thai people and I will return to Thailand," Yingluck said.

She questioned the integrity of the charges recommended by NCCA to prosecutors, saying the anti-graft body did not treat cases involving other politicians the same way her cases went. Prosecutors will then decide if it has probable cause to file the charges in court.

Shinawatra has also slammed NCCA for repeatedly rejecting her requests to present additional witnesses and evidence to back her claims.

The rice program, initiated by the government in 2011, has helped farmers to improve their lives by buying and paying them double the price in the market, Shinawatra said.

But NCCA claimed that the rice program was prone to corruption and abuse, and had accumulated $9.2 billion in paper losses after rice prices tumbled, leaving the country with huge stocks of rice. The scheme was also seen by critics as a way for Shinawatra to win votes.

Shinawatra, removed from office over abuse of power on May 7, was the first female prime minister of Thailand, and is the sister of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, also a former prime minister who was removed from office in a 2006 coup. Thaksin moved overseas following his conviction on corruption case over a land deal.

Thailand is currently under military rule after the military stepped in and removed the civilian government in May following the declaration of Martial law. Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha is now serving as its head and has announced plans to conduct election next year with the introduction of a new charter.

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