IN the latest battle in a political war that has lasted almost a decade, Thailand’s military-appointed legislature Friday voted to impeach former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for her role in overseeing a government rice subsidy program that lost billions of dollars.

    The vote was generally seen as a partisan action aimed at crippling the political machine founded by her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, another ousted prime minister.

    The vote, which means Yingluck will be banned from politics for five years, came just hours 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. She was forced by a court ruling last May to step down from her job for illegally transferring a civil servant, and just days later the army staged a successful coup against her government.

    The coup came after months of violent street protests by anti-Thaksin activists, which the army refused to help quash.

    Friday’s moves are the latest salvoes against Thaksin, who was toppled from his job by a 2006 coup after being accused of corruption, abuse of power and insulting the monarchy. His supporters believe he was ousted because his unprecedented electoral popularity threatened the power and influence of the country’s traditional ruling circles, centered in the palace and the military.(SD-Agencies)