Thailand’s military-appointed legislature on Friday voted to impeach former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her role in overseeing a government rice subsidy program that lost billions of dollars, a move that could further polarize a divided nation plagued by political turmoil and coups for a decade.
The vote, which means Yingluck will be banned from politics for five years, came just after the attorney general’s office announced separate plans to indict her on criminal charges for negligence related to losses and alleged corruption in the rice program.
No date has been set for the formal indictment, but if convicted, Yingluck could face 10 years in jail.
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Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report.
