Supreme admin court to rule on Yingluck’s 35bn baht appeal this year

The Supreme Administrative Court is expected to deliver a final ruling in the case of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who appealed against an order requiring her to pay 35 billion baht in compensation for damages caused by fraudulent government-to-government (G-to-G) rice contracts.

Prawit Boothiam, a vice president of the Supreme Administrative Court, stated that the court had been reviewing the case since 2021 and had made significant progress. He expressed confidence that the case would be concluded within this year.

Prawit was referring to Yingluck’s petition to the court, seeking the annulment of an order by the Finance Ministry demanding she pay 35 billion baht in compensation for losses resulting from corruption in the G-to-G rice contracts.

In 2017, the Supreme Court sentenced Yingluck in absentia to five years in prison for mismanagement of the rice scheme. She had already fled the country, fearing that the military regime, which ousted her government in 2014, would impose a severe sentence.

Following the ruling, the Finance Ministry issued an order requiring Yingluck to pay 35 billion baht in compensation for the fraudulent G-to-G rice contracts.

However, Yingluck appealed against the order to the Central Administrative Court, which ruled in April 2021 that the compensation order was invalid.

The Central Administrative Court reasoned that Yingluck was not solely responsible for the administration of the scheme, as it was also overseen by the Cabinet and the National Rice Policy Committee.

The court further noted that while Yingluck had acknowledged awareness of the G-to-G rice contracts, she had not been informed about the corrupt sale of rice under these contracts to private companies.

The Finance Ministry subsequently appealed against the ruling, and the Supreme Administrative Court has been deliberating the case since 2021, Prawit added.