Ousted Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has fled the country ahead of a verdict against her in a negligence trial brought by the junta that overthrew her, sources close to the Shinawatra family said on Friday.
Ms. Yingluck, 50, whose family has dominated Thai politics for more than 15 years, failed to show up at court for judgment in a case centred on the multi-billion dollar losses incurred by a rice subsidy scheme for farmers.
Overthrown in 2014, Ms. Yingluck had faced up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Her former commerce minister was jailed in a related case for 42 years on Friday.
“She has definitely left Thailand,” said one source, who is also a member of her Puea Thai Party. The sources did not say where she had gone.
Turbulent decade
Ms. Yingluck’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, who heads the political clan, was overthrown in a 2006 coup and fled into exile to escape a corruption conviction that he said was aimed at demolishing the populist movement he founded.
The struggle between that movement and a Bangkok-centered royalist and pro-military elite has been at the heart of years of turmoil in Thailand. The verdict against Ms. Yingluck could have reignited tension, though the Army has largely snuffed out open opposition.
Cambodian immigration police said she had not entered their country.