PM Paetongtarn unaware of plans for Yingluck's return

BANGKOK: Thailand's Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said she is unaware of any plans for the return of her exiled aunt, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, to the kingdom despite recent remarks by her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, suggesting such a possibility.

Responding to a report by Nikkei Asia quoting Thaksin, a former prime minister, as saying that Yingluck could return to Thailand around April next year, Paetongtarn said that Yingluck had not reached out to the government regarding the matter.

"The only contact she (Yingluck) has made is to call her grandchildren," Paetongtarn told reporters after chairing a Cabinet meeting at Government House on Tuesday.

Refraining to elaborate on the matter, Paetongtarn advised reporters to redirect questions about Yingluck's potential return to Thaksin instead, saying: "The media is welcome to interview him directly."

On Nov 18, Nikkei Asia published an interview with Thaksin, where he expressed confidence that Yingluck could return to Thailand during next year's Songkran festival, which falls in mid-April.

"I don't see any obstacles preventing her return. In fact, she might even come back a little earlier, depending on timing and opportunity," Thaksin said.

Yingluck served as Thailand's 28th Prime Minister from August 2011 to May 2014, becoming the country's first female leader.

However, her tenure faced significant challenges, including large-scale protests organised by the People's Democratic Reform Committee in 2013-2014.

In May 2014, she was removed from office by the Constitutional Court on charges of abuse of power; and in 2017, Yingluck was convicted in absentia of negligence related to a controversial rice subsidy programme and sentenced to five years in prison.

Before the verdict, Yingluck fled Thailand and has since lived in self-imposed exile.

-- BERNAMA