Thai authorities have frozen seven bank accounts belonging to ex-premier Yingluck Shinawatra over a $1 billion fine she faces for her administration’s controversial rice subsidy scheme, her lawyer said Tuesday. The move is seen as unprecedented because it financially sanctions an elected leader for a government policy and it is the latest in a barrage … Read more
A Thai court will deliver its ruling in the criminal negligence case of toppled premier Yingluck Shinawatra on August 25, a verdict that could see her jailed for up to 10 years. She is accused of failing to stop corruption in a rice subsidy policy that funnelled cash to her poor farming base but cost … Read more
Toppled Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra was mobbed Friday by well-wishers, many bearing red roses, as she arrived for what could be the final hearing in a trial for criminal negligence that carries a 10-year jail term. She is accused of negligence over a rice subsidy policy that funneled cash to her poor, rural farming base … Read more
A Thai man publicly confessed Tuesday to planting a bomb inside an army-run hospital last month, saying he was motivated by a loathing for the military and their frequent coups. The blast occurred on the third anniversary of the junta’s 22 May coup and struck a VIP waiting room inside a military-owned hospital in Bangkok, … Read more
A small bomb struck a Bangkok military hospital on Monday wounding more than 20 people, police said, three years to the day since the army seized power of the politically unstable kingdom. Thailand remains starkly divided since the May 22, 2014 coup, but dissent has broadly been silenced by a military with sweeping security powers. … Read more
Amnesty International has slammed an unprecedented ban by Thailand’s junta on using the internet to communicate with three trenchant critics of the monarchy, saying authorities had hit new lows in curbing free speech. The new order makes any online interaction with the trio in the Kingdom — including contacting them, and following or sharing their … Read more
Thailand’s junta chief on Wednesday said he plans to lift the ban on political party gatherings before next year’s elections, although he declined to put a date on polls or state when the restrictions will be lifted. The military seized power in 2014 ushering in Thailand’s most autocratic government in a generation. Former army chief … Read more
Thailand’s king will sign off on the country’s new constitution later Thursday, a document touted by the junta as a cure for political instability but dismissed by critics as a move to further entrench army influence. The military says royal approval of the charter — Thailand’s twentieth since 1932 — will open the door for … Read more
Thai tax officials slapped ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra with a $500 million bill on Tuesday, resurrecting a dispute at the centre of the kingdom’s decade-long political rift. The controversy centres around whether Thaksin, who currently lives in self-exile, should have paid taxes on the sale of his telecoms company Shin Corp to Singapore’s Temasek … Read more
Deposed premier Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday accused Thailand’s junta of “hounding” her family after it pressed for a $450 million tax bill to be slapped on her older brother Thaksin. The long-dormant issue has returned to the spotlight this week after Thailand’s revenue department said huge back taxes were owed from the sale of Shin … Read more