Yingluck tells Supreme Court she was never dishonest (Updated)

Yingluck Shinawatra delivered a tearful closing statement to a Bangkok court on Tuesday, saying she did not act dishonestly in a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme and giving six reasons in support.

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You can read Yingluck Shinawatra's full closing statement (in Thai) here: http://www.posttoday.com/analysis/politic/506485

Afternoon update

Tearful Yingluck says she was never dishonest

Online reporters

Yingluck Shinawatra delivered a tearful closing statement to a Bangkok court on Tuesday, saying she did not act dishonestly in a multi-billion dollar rice subsidy scheme and that she was being politically persecuted.

Ms Yingluck argued the rice scheme, which eventually cost Thailand $8 billion, benefited average Thais.
 
"The rice policy has been proven to benefit the economy at the grass roots level and nationwide. It did not cause losses. Which is why I intended to make this rice scheme work," Ms Yingluck told the court.

"The rice scheme was honest and correct," she added.

If convicted of negligence, Ms Yingluck faces 10 years in jail.

Ms Yingluck was ousted in a May 2014 coup and banned from politics for five years in 2015 but remains a figurehead of the populist movement that has won every Thai election since 2001.

A tearful Ms Yingluck told the court she was the victim of political persecution.

"I never omitted to perform my duty ... or performed my duty dishonestly. I know that I am the victim of a deep political game," she said.

Outside the court Ladda Boonma, 67, from Nakhon Sawan province, north of Bangkok, said she came to support the former prime minister because she had been "kind to the poor".

"I came here to show my support to Prime Minister Yingluck because she has been kind to the poor and to farmers. Why is helping farmers wrong?"

In 2011 Ms Yingluck sailed to victory in a general election and introduced a scheme to buy rice above market prices from farmers, her core constituents, store it and resell it later at a higher price.

But the scheme backfired and caused Thailand to lose its crown as the world's largest exporter of the grain.

Thailand also ended up with 18 million tonnes of rice in stockpiles which the military government has auctioned off since it took power in 2014.

Yingluck cites six reasons why charges against her are illegitimate

First, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) had submitted new evidence after it charged her, she said.

“When the NACC first accused me, it submitted 329 pages of documents which took 79 days to look into. It then rushed to charge me one day after the Constitutional Court removed me from office even though the corruption accusations against others involving the rice sales had not been concluded.

“It then brought on another 60,000 pages of documents in the rice sales case and used them as new evidence against me even though they were not there when it charged me.”

Second, rice pledging was a core policy of her government, and had to be implemented.

Third, on the charge of neglect of duty, she had set up committees and subcommittees to handle the programme with checks and balances.

“These committees implement the policy. As prime minister, I could not have intervened and arbitrarily exercised power. I couldn't just do that when I felt like it, or drop it when I didn’t.”

Fourth, the programme did not cause damages as charged.

“On the contrary, it benefitted the economy both directly and indirectly. Farmers had more income and the government could collect more value-added tax [from their increased spending]. The National Economic and Social Development Board also said the programme should continue to 2015, when the  Asean Economic Community began.”

Fifth, on the accusation she violated Section 157 on malfeasance by ignoring the written warnings of the NACC and the Auditor General’s Office, the former prime minister said she forwarded them to responsible committees, appointed Chalerm Yubamrung to chair an audit committee and told provincial agencies to be on alert for rights fraud.

“But since no agency confirmed the wrongdoing, I, as prime minister, had to listen to them as they had expertise on the issue.”

Lastly, she denied she had failed to act on rice sales irregularities.

“The accusation involves the implementation level with a committee taking responsibility for it, as well as the Foreign Trade Department of the Commerce Ministry.

“The cabinet was cautious about rice sales. It set the criteria and tighten preventive measures even before the censure debate on the government-to-government rice sales.”

In conclusion, she repeated the policy aimed to help farmers.

“I did nothing wrong. What I did was apply my experiences as an ordinary woman born upcountry who is familiar with the misery of farmers -- who were once called the spine of the country that deserve to be supported and taken care of. I did just that when I implemented the programme even though the push for the policy for a better life of farmers backfired on me and I had to fight the case with prosecutors who tried to distort the facts and accuse me unfairly.

Morning story

Yingluck at court to deliver closing statement in rice trial

Online reporters

Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for justice as she arrived at the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning to deliver her closing statement in her trial for alleged negligence in the handling of her government's rice-buying scheme.

More than 1,000 supporters were waiting for her outside the court in Bangkok in defiance of a government warning not to gather en masse, as 300 police stood guard.

Yingluck, who has always maintained her innocence and denies allegations of negligence and graft relating to the scheme, was greetd by cries of "Fight! Fight!" when she arrived.

"Today I will deliver a verbal closing statement to the court. I am confident that there was no wrongdoing and maintain my innocence," Ms Yingluck told reporters outside of the court.

"The rice scheme was a useful programme that benefited farmers. I hope that there will be justice."

Last week, the government said it had frozen assets belonging to Yingluck, including bank accounts and dozens of properties in relation to a separate, administrative order by the state to claim back money lost from the rice scheme.

New legislation passed by the National Legislative Assembly on July 13 allows Ms Yingluck to lodge an appeal without the need to submit new evidence if she is found guilty on Aug 25, when the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions is scheduled to rule in the rice case. 

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