Ex-Thai PM Yingluck barred from travel to Hong Kong, China amid graft probe

Thailand’s toppled former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has been banned from travelling overseas because graft charges carrying up to a decade in jail will be formally laid against her later this month, officials said today.

Local media said Yingluck had wanted to travel to Hong Kong, mainland China and Britain this week.

Yingluck, who was ousted by a court ruling shortly before the army grabbed power in May, has already been banned from politics for five years following her impeachment over a costly rice subsidy scheme.

In addition, she faces jail if found guilty of corruption charges linked to the policy, which paid farmers in her rural heartlands well over the market rates for their crop.

But the Thai junta denied her permission on the advice of the state prosecutor, the Office of the Attorney General.

“The office said the case was still under the justice process and asked for the trip to be postponed,” deputy prime minister General Prawit Wongsuwon told reporters.

“The ban was linked to the legal process.”