BANGKOK — A Thai court’s decision to impose a massive $305 million fine on exiled former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is being viewed as evidence that her brother Thaksin continues to face fierce political opposition.
Yingluck declared she had “no intention to cause damages” and was being held responsible “for a debt I did not cause” after a Thai court on Thursday ordered her to pay more than 10.028 billion baht ($305 million) to compensate for losses from a money-losing rice farming subsidy program her administration implemented more than a decade ago.
In a Facebook post following the ruling, Yingluck expressed her dismay at being held liable for what she characterized as damages beyond her control. She stated that the huge sum “cannot be repaid in a lifetime, no matter how much I work.”
Yingluck affirmed that her work in the rice pledging scheme was dedicated to supporting rice prices to be high and stable, aiming to improve the lives of farmers, even while enduring political and various other forms of pressure. She added that the outcome was a “most painful conclusion for me.”
“If a Prime Minister elected by the people cannot even access true justice, then there is no guarantee for the people who are the owners of sovereignty either,” she wrote.
Her lawyer Norrawit Larlaeng announced plans to request a retrial, arguing that the government had already sold leftover rice from the subsidy program for around 140 billion baht ($4.26 billion), which covers all damages estimated by the Finance Ministry.
The Supreme Administrative Court partially reversed a 2021 court ruling that had cleared her. It found her guilty of severe negligence in relation to rice sales to other countries and said she failed to act on many government agencies’ warnings of possible corruption.
She was ordered to pay half of the damages estimated at more than 20 billion baht ($608 million). The court annulled a 2016 order by the Finance Ministry for her to pay 35.7 billion baht ($1.1 billion) in compensation, saying Yingluck was not proven directly responsible for the alleged corruption.
The rice subsidy program was a flagship policy that helped Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party win the 2011 general election. Under the program, the government paid farmers about 50% more than they would have received on the global market, with the intention of driving up prices by warehousing the grain.
But other rice-producing countries captured the international rice market by selling at competitive prices. Thailand as a result lost its position as the world’s leading rice exporter and large amounts of rice sat unsold in government warehouses.
Yingluck, the first female prime minister of Thailand, came to power in 2011, five years after her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was toppled in a coup and fled abroad. Yingluck also was forced out by a military coup in 2014, and fled the country in 2017, ahead of a court verdict. She’s been living in exile since then.
Last year, Yingluck was cleared by a court on unrelated charges of mishandling funds for a government project in 2013. In December 2023, the court also cleared her of abuse of power in connection with a personnel transfer she had overseen.
Political analysts view the court’s decision to impose this massive fine on Yingluck as significant amid continuing political divisions. They suggest that Thaksin continues to face fierce opposition from longtime adversaries, even though he was able to return to Thailand in August 2023 before being granted clemency in a corruption trial because of his age and health.
His daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra has since become the current Prime Minister with support from previously opposing political groups that had backed earlier coups.
However, to this day, Thaksin remains under criticism and faces complaints calling for investigations by individuals and groups who oppose him, including opposition parties, particularly regarding his medical treatment on the 14th floor of the Police Hospital rather than serving time in prison.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Persons Holding Political Positions has scheduled a hearing for him on June 13.
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