Roundup: Former Thai leader Yingluck Shinawatra politically banned for five years

Former Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra was on Friday impeached by legislators, rendering the country's first lady leader banned from politics for a five-years time due to alleged corruption in the previous government's rice subsidy program.

A total of 190 members of the National Legislative Assembly, all of whom were handpicked by Thai Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha, voted to impeach Yingluck while 18 others voted otherwise.

The impeachment for which a minimum of three-fifths of all 220 legislators, or 132, were needed, will automatically have the former leader, who ran the country from the mid-2011 until the mid- 2014, politically banned from now until 2020.

Yingluck, who had defended herself over the controversial rice program in parliament on Thursday, quietly stayed at home as the non-elected legislators cast their votes.

She repeatedly dismissed accusations lodged by the Naitonal Anti-Corruption Commission that the rice program had incurred an estimated 20 billion U.S. dollars in losses of the taxpayer's money with herself allegedly turning blind eye and deaf ear to the alleged corruption which had involved high-ranking government officials.

About 3.6 million tons of rice had been allegedly unaccounted for or spoiled after the rice had been stored at government-rented warehouses in the provinces while the ex-premier had failed to take action against those primarily responsible for such losses, according to NACC member Wicha Mahakhun.

Though Yingluck had claimed to have launched investigation into the alleged corruption over the rice program, the anti-graft agency had successfully contended that she had quietly learned of such malpractice but failed to combat it.

She had argued in vain that farmers had benefited a great deal from the rice program as an estimated 10 billion U.S. dollars had been used to buy rice for 500 U.S. dollars a ton from them nationwide.

"Farmers are the backbone of the country. We must not let that backbone broken,'' said Yingluck during her unfruitful plea to the legislators on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Office of Attorney General resolved on Friday to lodge a criminal lawsuit against the former premier in court on duty-negligence and law-breaking charges involving the rice program.

The case is expected to be submitted to the Supreme Court by Attorney General Trakul Vinitnaipak in one-month time from now.

If convicted guilty as charged, Yingluck might possibly be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in jail.

Yingluck's brother, former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra who has remained in self-exile overseas following the 2006 coup, alongside 200-plus politicians had been banned from politics for a five-year time several years ago.

Thaksin had been sentenced in absentia by Supreme Court judges in charge of lawsuits against politicians to a two-years jail for power-abusing charges involving a Bangkok land grab scandal during his time as premier.

Security at the Government House and parliament was stepped up with police squads and army troops amid fears that Red Shirt activists, known to have been loyal to the Shinawatra family, might possibly gather en masse in protest of Friday's impeachment.

Former Red Shirt leader and former deputy minister Nattavut Saikua earlier suggested that the pro-Yingluck and pro-Thaksin demonstrators stay calm and not take to the streets for the time being, given current martial rule enforced since last May's coup staged by the then-army chief Gen Prayut himself. Endi