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
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
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 —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary