Thai FM confirms former PM Yingluck in London

BANGKOK, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- The foreign minister of Thailand confirmed on Tuesday that fugitive former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is in Britain.

At the Government House where he attended a weekly cabinet meeting, Don Pramudwinai, the Thai foreign minister, said he has been informed since last September by the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Yingluck is in London.

Whether or not Yingluck may have already filed a request for political asylum in Britain was not reported by the British authorities to Thailand as yet, according to the minister.

Don said Yingluck might probably use a foreign country's passport to travel to Britain and elsewhere in the world since her Thailand passports were earlier revoked.

Don didn't give any comments on whether Thailand will seek Yingluck's extradition.

He also declined to answer whether the Thai government will lodge an objection on the British government if Yingluck applied for political asylum there, saying the issue will not affect the Thailand-Britain relations.

The Pheu Thai Party led by the former premier recently unveiled that Yingluck has sought asylum in Britain.

The party said if Yingluck was granted political asylum there, she would be issued a passport or travel document which can be used for five years.

Legal experts said if Yingluck could provide full proof that she was politically persecuted, the British government would consider to approve the asylum. They said a detailed address in Britain is needed when applying for asylum.

Yingluck was widely rumored to go shopping in London during the New Year holiday and a picture of her posing alongside an unidentified woman has gone viral in social media.

Last August, she reportedly fled Thailand via Cambodia with the help of a few police officers and found her way to the United Arab Emirates, where her self-exiled brother, the former premier Thaksin Shinawatra has been residing since the last decade.

Her surprise escapee shortly preceded a final verdict delivered by the Supreme Court over a criminal lawsuit involving a rice subsidy program run by a deposed government which she had led several years ago.

She was ruled guilty and sentenced by the Supreme Court to five years in jail on misconduct charges related to the scandalous rice program. Enditem