WEB DESK
Facing a possible 10-year jail term, former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra  Yingluck Shinawatra fled Thailand for Dubai two days before a verdict was due to be delivered in a trial over rice subsidies, a highly-placed source in her Pheu Thai party said Friday.
Yingluck left Thailand on Wednesday and is now “safe and sound” in Dubai, the source said. She was due to appear in court Friday but a warrant was issued for her arrest after she failed to show up.
Local media cited anonymous officials as saying she travelled by land to Cambodia then flew to Dubai to join her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra another exiled former premier whose government, like hers, was toppled in a military coup.
Yingluck, who became Thailand’s first female Prime Minister when her party swept elections in 2011, is accused of negligence in overseeing a money-losing rice subsidy program. She has denied charges as politically motivated.
A verdict had been expected yesterday, as thousands of Yingluck supporters gathered outside the court and thousands of police stood guard. But Yingluck never appeared, and a judge read out a statement saying her lawyers had informed the court she could not attend because of an earache. The judge postponed the trial until September 27.