Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra faces a possible five-year ban from politics after anti-graft officials ruled yesterday that she should face impeachment proceedings, a move sure to further enrage her supporters.
However, the National Anti-Corruption Commission said that it would not extend its probe into a costly rice subsidy scheme to the rest of the caretaker Cabinet as feared by officials of the battered ruling party.
That could have seen the Cabinet ousted and sent the kingdom spinning into a deeper political crisis.
“The commission considers there is enough evidence to indict [Yingluck] and refers [the case] to the Senate,” Thai National Anti-Corruption Commission President Panthep Klanarongran told reporters.
If found guilty by the upper house, Yingluck could face a five-year ban from politics.
The commission said is is still considering whether Yingluck should face criminal charges, which could see her given a prison term.
Her billionaire elder brother, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, lives overseas to avoid a prison sentence for corruption that he contends was politically motivated in the wake of his ousting by an army coup in 2006.
Thailand remains stuck in a political quagmire with the ailing government staggering on, despite a slew of legal challenges and protests on Bangkok’s streets.
Anti-government protesters, who accuse the Shinawatras of poisoning Thailand with corruption, said they would appoint a new government today — a move that would risk further political violence.
“Tomorrow [Friday] we will take steps toward appointing a new government,” protest spokesman Akanat Promphan said, adding that the government had lost “all legitimacy.”
The protesters are known for their hyperbolic statements and it was not immediately clear what legal basis their vow was based on, but Akanat said the Thai constitution has an article that may enable the appointment of a new executive body by the Senate.
The appointment of a new Thai prime minister by the anti-government group “is the red line not to be crossed,” Thailand-based author and academic David Streckfuss said.
“The Red Shirts will rise en masse,” he said, referring to Shinawatra supporters who are due to hold a mass rally tomorrow in a Bangkok suburb.
The commission’s decision comes a day after the Constitutional Court removed Yingluck from office for abusing her power in the 2011 transfer of a security official.
The ruling Pheu Thai Party swiftly appointed Thai Commerce Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan as her replacement and vowed to push for new elections on July 20 to cut a path through the turmoil.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS