BANGKOK
Thailand's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra could now face a "$18 billion in financial losses" civil suit if the country's Anti-Corruption Commission gets its way -- the latest in a raft of charges that have seen her booted from office, banned from politics for five years and face 10 years in jail.
The Nation newspaper reported Wednesday that the commission has announced it will recommend the Finance Ministry file the suit against her for losses incurred by a rice-subsidies scheme -- implemented by her government between 2011 and the May 22 coup last year.
On announcing the new case, the commission chair, Panthep Klanarongran, underlined that it was not "targeting anyone in particular."
"I insist that we act in accordance with the law. If there is a lack of understanding, then we will have to keep on explaining until it is understood," the Nation quoted Klanarongran as saying.
He underlined: "It is believed that many understand."
The charges are the latest in a series of legal actions against the former premier -- the sister of establishment nemesis Thaksin Shinawatra, a deeply divisive figure who was the prime minister between 2001 and 2006, before he was deposed in a coup. Many blame him for the country's long-time political crisis.
Yingluck herself was removed on May 7 by the Constitutional Court for improprieties in the transfer of a high-ranking civil servant. Weeks later, her government was deposed in the May 22 coup.
On the commission’s recommendation, the military-appointed national legislative assembly has previously impeached Yingluck, while on Jan. 23 it banned her from political activities for five years in relation to the same rice-subsidies scheme.
It also asked the attorney general's office in January to file a criminal case against her based on the same agricultural policy, which could see her sentenced to a jail term of up to ten years.
The anti-graft body has been widely accused of double-standards in its treatment of the Shinawatra family, led by former PM Thaksin, who has lived in exile since being sentenced to two years in jail for abuse of power in 2008.
While it has been quick to revive cases against the Shinawatras and their affiliates, charges against many opposing figures have been dropped.
On Feb. 7, the commission revived a case -- dropped three years previously by prosecutors -- against former PM and Shinawatra family member Somchai Wongsawat for having ordered the breakup of an anti-government demonstration which caused two deaths in 2008.
Meanwhile, a complaint filed in 2011 with the commission against improprieties by former Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva in the management of a price-guarantee scheme for rice has gone nowhere.
The commission's secretary-general, Vicha Mahakhun, has tried to explain the delay, by saying that documents required to pursue the case against Vejjajiva were "damaged and lost in the massive floods in 2011."
Suspicion also surrounds dropping of murder charges filed against Vejjajiva and former deputy-prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban in 2013 for having ordered a military crackdown on Red Shirts -- pro-Thaksin -- demonstrators in April and May 2010, which caused over 90 deaths.
A criminal court dismissed the case in August 2014, saying that the charges should have been filed by the anti-corruption agency and not by the Department of Special Investigations, a police body under the Ministry of Justice.
Yingluck is due to be indicted for the criminal case Thursday at the Supreme Court. She is not required to attend, and can be represented by her legal team.
Critics of the rice-subsidies scheme have said that it caused huge financial losses for the state, was run without transparency and opened the door to massive corruption.
In November, the Finance Ministry said that losses caused by the program had amounted to $15.8 billion since July 2011, when Yingluck was elected prime minister.
The Anti-Corruption Commission has said its own investigation revealed losses of $18 billion.
