Thai ex-PM Yingluck has not obtained British passport: official

BANGKOK, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's fugitive former premier Yingluck Shinawatra has not obtained a British passport, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said on Monday.

His comment followed earlier news reports that Yingluck had been given the British passport after she had reportedly sought political asylum in Britain.

Don said such possibilities were not officially reported by any authorities, Thai or British. Neither has the British embassy in Bangkok filed any report about Yingluck to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs as yet, he said.

Thai media earlier reported that Yingluck was seeking political asylum in Britain after she had unexpectedly departed Thailand and secretly traveled to the United Arab Emirates in August.

Yingluck reportedly fled the country via Cambodia, which shares border with Thailand, and found her way to the Middle East country after she had failed to show up before the Supreme Court.

In absentia of the former female leader, the Supreme Court delivered a final verdict and sentenced her to a five-year jail term on duty negligence and misconduct charges pertaining to a rice program which had been implemented by her Puea Thai (for the Thais) Party-led government and reportedly incurred an estimated 500 billion baht (about 14.7 billion U.S. dollars) in state losses several years ago.

Yingluck was said to have visited her brother, former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, in Dubai where he has been taking self-exile since nearly a decade ago.

Thaksin and Yingluck were deposed by military coups in 2006 and 2014 respectively. Enditem