DHAKA: Former Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra has fled abroad, ahead of a verdict in her trial over a rice subsidy scheme, reports BBC.

Sources in her party said on Friday (August 25) that she made the decision to leave unexpectedly, shortly before she was due to appear at the Supreme Court on negligence charges.

Her lawyers told the court she had been unable to attend because she was ill.

But when she failed to appear, the court issued an arrest warrant for her and confiscated her bail.

Judges also postponed the verdict until 27 September.

Yingluck denied any wrongdoing in the scheme which cost Thailand billions of dollars. If found guilty at the end of her two-year trial, she could be jailed for up to 10 years and permanently banned from politics.

Sources within Yingluck's Puea Thai Party told Reuters that she had "definitely left Thailand" but did not give details of her whereabouts.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who heads Thailand's military government, said all routes out of the country were being closely monitored.

"I just learned that she did not show up [at court]," he told reporters. "I have ordered border checkpoints to be stepped up."

Deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan initially said he had no information on Yingluck's whereabouts but as he left a meeting in Bangkok he said: "It is possible that she has fled already."

Yingluck's lawyer had requested a delay in the ruling, telling the Supreme Court that she had vertigo and a severe headache and was unable to attend.

But the court said in a statement it did not believe she was sick as there was no medical certificate and that the claimed sickness was not severe enough to prevent her travelling to court.

"Such behaviour convincingly shows that she is a flight risk. As a result, the court has issued an arrest warrant and confiscated the posted bail money," the statement said.

Yingluck posted $900,000 (£703,000) bail at the beginning of her trial.

Friday's turn of events took many by surprise, including the hundreds of people who turned up outside the Supreme Court in Bangkok to support Ms Yingluck.

BBC Thai reporter Nanchanok Wongsamut said the announcement prompted shocked reactions in the courtroom, and then a flurry of activity as journalists ran out to report the news.

Yingluck, who became Thailand's first female prime minister in 2011, was impeached in 2015 over the rice scheme by a military-backed legislature, which then brought the legal case.

The scheme, part of Yingluck's election campaign platform, launched shortly after she took office.

It was aimed at boosting farmers' incomes and alleviating rural poverty, and saw the government paying farmers nearly twice the market rate for their crop.

But it hit Thailand's rice exports hard, leading to a loss of at least $8bn and huge stockpiles of rice which the government could not sell.

Though it was popular with her rural voter base, opponents said the scheme was too expensive and open to corruption.

During her trial, Yingluck had argued she was not responsible for the day-to-day running of the scheme. She has insisted she is a victim of political persecution.

In another development on Friday, former Thai minister Boonsong Teriyapirom was jailed for 42 years in connection with the rice subsidy scheme.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the exceptionally heavy sentence for Boonsong suggests the court would not have been lenient with Yingluck and it is possible she was warned about this before making her decision to flee.

Yingluck's time in office was overshadowed by controversy as well as strong political opposition.

The youngest sister of Thaksin, she was seen by her opponents as a proxy for her brother, who was controversially ousted by the military in 2006.

Both siblings remain popular among the rural poor, but are hated by urban and middle-class elite.

Their Puea Thai party has - under various different names - won every election in Thailand since 2001.

Some of Ms Yingluck's supporters outside the court on Friday expressed understanding at her failure to show.

"The Thai prime minister has done her best, she has sacrificed a lot," said Seksan Chalitaporn, 64. "Now the people have to fight for themselves."

BDST: 1610 HRS, AUG 25, 2017
SI