‘Thailand has no plan to revoke passports of former PM Yingluck’

BANGKOK / Reuters

Thailand has no immediate plan to revoke the passports
of former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the foreign minister said on Tuesday, after she fled the country last week ahead of a court ruling in a negligence case.
Yingluck, 50, was elected Thailand’s first female prime minister in 2011 and is the sister of ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. She skipped Friday’s hearing, stunning thousands of
supporters gathered at the Supreme Court.
Yingluck holds two Thai passports, one regular and another diplomatic, and is also thought to hold a third, foreign one. “The issue has not reached the foreign ministry yet,” foreign minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters when asked if
the ministry would revoke Yingluck’s passports.
“This foreign minister is not yet handling this.” Reuters could not contact Yingluck on Tuesday. A foreign ministry spokesman said he could not confirm whether Yingluck held a foreign passport. Her brother Thaksin holds a Montenegrin passport. He was ousted in a 2006 coup and fled Thailand to avoid a 2008 jail term for graft related to a land case he called politically motivated.
He travels frequently, particularly to Singapore and Hong Kong, to meet his three children and grandchildren, members of the Shinawatra family have said in social
media posts.