Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck found not guilty in criminal case

In a ruling on December 26, the Supreme Court of Thailand concluded that Ms. Yingluck, the sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, did not intend to cause damage in the transfer of personnel at Thailand's National Security Council (NSC) in 2011, according to the Bangkok Post .

The court said it was a normal transfer and not a plot to put a relative in charge of the national police. It also revoked an arrest warrant for Ms. Yingluck, which was issued when she failed to appear in court last November during a lower court hearing.

Cựu Thủ tướng Thái Lan Yingluck được tuyên vô tội trong một vụ án hình sự- Ảnh 1. — Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra at court in Bangkok in 2017.

The Bangkok Post said the abuse of power allegations related to an incident that occurred on September 30, 2011, when Ms. Yingluck, then Prime Minister of Thailand, signed an order transferring NSC Secretary-General Thawil Pliensri to serve as her adviser. The cabinet then approved the appointment of General Wichean Potephosree, the current national police chief, as the new secretary-general of the NSC.

Ms. Yingluck, as former chairwoman of the Police Commission, then proposed that General Priewphan Damapong, then deputy national police chief, be appointed to fill the vacant post left by Mr. Potephosree. The proposal was approved by the Police Commission.

General Priewphan is the brother of Thaksin's ex-wife Potjaman Na Pombejra. At the time, Priewphan was just a year away from retirement age.

According to Nikkei Asia , Mr. Thawil was reinstated to the NSC after petitioning the Supreme Administrative Court of Thailand to overturn Ms. Yingluck's order. In February 2014, the court ruled that Ms. Yingluck had abused her power in the above-mentioned personnel transfer and appointment.

The incident led to the Thai Constitutional Court removing Yingluck from office on May 7, 2014, ruling that the prime minister had interfered in government appointments to benefit her relatives. Two weeks later, Yingluck was ousted in a military coup.

Ms. Yingluck left Thailand in August 2017, joining Mr. Thaksin in exile. Although she did not appear in court, she was sentenced to five years in prison in a separate case related to the government’s rice subsidy program, which was considered rife with corruption during her time as prime minister.

Thaksin, 74, returned to Thailand after 15 years of exile on August 22, the same day businessman Srettha Thavisin was elected prime minister. Thaksin was immediately taken to the Supreme Court and sentenced to a total of eight years in prison on three corruption charges. He was then placed under house arrest in a hospital, and King Maha Vajiralongkorn commuted his sentence to one year.

Yingluck, 56, faces another arrest warrant in connection with criminal charges brought by Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC). The NACC accuses her of misusing public funds when her government allocated 240 million baht ($6.9 million) for an infrastructure promotion program between 2013 and 2014, according to Nikkei Asia .

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