Former Thai PM fled to Dubai: Senior officials

LONDON - 26 Aug 2017: Former prime minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra has fled to Dubai, senior members of her party said on Saturday, a day after she failed to show up for a negligence ruling in which she faced up to 10 years in prison.

The Guardian newspaper cited sources in her Puea Thai party as saying that she left Thailand last week and flew via Singapore to Dubai where her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a 2008 jail sentence for corruption, has a home.

A senior member of Puea Thai, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said: “We heard that she went to Cambodia and then Singapore from where she flew to Dubai. She has arrived safely and is there now."

Deputy national police chief General Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul said police had no record of Yingluck leaving the country.

Overthrown in 2014, Yingluck could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Her former commerce minister was jailed in a related case for 42 years on Friday.