... She denies wrongdoing...Bangkok (ANTARA News) - Thailand's attorney general filed charges against deposed prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Thursday, in a case that could result in a 10-year jail term if she is found guilty.
Yingluck, Thailand's first woman prime minister, was charged with negligence for her role in a rice subsidy scheme that has cost the state billions of dollars. She denies wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court would decide by March 19 whether or not to pursue the case, court secretary Theerathai Charoenwong said.
Yingluck was forced from office last May over a separate legal challenge days before her government was ousted in a military coup. The coup ended months of protests organised by supporters of the establishment opposed to her government's populist polices including the rice subsidy.
Yingluck was not obliged to appear on Thursday but would be ready to report to the court if the case proceeds, her lawyer, Norawit Laleng, said. The government denied Yingluck permission to travel to Hong Kong this month to ensure she was in the country to face charges.
The prosecutor submitted 20 boxes of documents related to the case in the court, Kosonwat Inthujanyong, deputy spokesman for the Office of the Attorney General, told reporters.
Yingluck is the younger sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecommunications tycoon who shook up the political system with policies favouring the rural poor when he became prime minister for the first time in 2001.
Editor: Ade P Marboen
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