EMBATTLED former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra caught the entire country, including thousands of her supporters and colleagues who had gathered outside the Supreme Court yesterday, by surprise when she failed to turn up to hear the final verdict in the rice-pledging case. As the old saying goes: “To fool your enemy, you must first fool your allies.”

The former PM was expected to show up at the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday at 9am to hear the judgement in the case in which she is accused of negligence after her administration’s flagship rice-subsidy policy burdened the state with a loss of more than Bt400 billion.

It was a historic case whose outcome was eagerly awaited by many people because of its implications for Thai politics and its potential to dictate the direction the country would take in the years to come.

Millions of people were tuned in for the latest updates. Thousands came all the way from provinces around the country to the capital, not only to witness history but also to stand beside their beloved politician on her big day.

Yingluck’s colleagues – key Pheu Thai figures – were also present. So were her close relatives who arrived at the court early morning yesterday to be there for their sister, cousin, and aunt.

Weeks before the judgement day, security measures had been laid out strictly to curb thousands of people expected to be mobilised in the capital to support Yingluck. No reports of measures have been implemented to curb Yingluck from leaving Bangkok or even the Kingdom.

But little did anyone know that Yingluck would abscond the final court session.

Yingluck may have hinted in her latest Facebook post that she would not meet with her supporters and so they should not go to the court. But nobody imagined her message could be a veiled hint at her own absence from the court.

Dozens of reporters stood in front of Yingluck’s residence in Bangkok’s Bueng Kum district since early morning, following a tip-off that she would leave for the court at 7am for the one-hour drive on the 17-kilometre route to the court. There were no signs of her anywhere although a grey van was seen entering her home at around 7.15am.

Even until as late as 8.15 – 45 minutes before the court appointment time – no one saw it coming that Yingluck would be a no-show. Reporters were convinced that the former PM had spent the night in one of her houses in Bangkok and would be attending the court; also, there was no effort by her lawyer to seek a postponement of the verdict reading.

When Nation reporters checked with Yingluck’s staff at around 8.13am, they were informed that she would be arriving at the court soon.

It only hit some people that Yingluck might not be present when a black van with vanity licence plate number entered the court five minutes before the appointment time, drawing cheers from the crowd, but it did not bring Yingluck.

By then the gathered people were starting to get frustrated, as they were clueless on what was going on. Because of the court’s ban on use of cellphones and restrictions on people going in and out, many were in the dark about Yingluck’s whereabouts or whether or not she was already in the courtroom.

At the same time, people in the courtroom were also unaware of the situation outside. They were caught up with strict security measures and court rules.

Looking forward to hear the final verdict in Yingluck’s case in the afternoon, they had no clue that they were about to leave the court room in less than half an hour.

Around 9.30am, the nine-judge ruling panel entered the courtroom. Judge Cheep Junlanon informed that they would cover the “rice-pledging case” first, leaving the audience bewildered.

Without mentioning Yingluck by name and only referring to her as “the defendant”, Cheep said the lawyer of the defendant had requested postponement of the verdict reading because the defendant suffered symptoms of meniere’s disease |and was hence unable to attend court.

He said the prosecutor did not believe the claim because no medical certificate was presented and that the defendant could not be so unwell that she could not attend the court.

Cheep went on almost without pause that the court did not believe the defendant was so unwell that she could not attend the hearing.

The action was convincing that the defendant was absconding, Cheep said, and hence the court ordered an arrest warrant to be issued and for seizure of the bail amount of Bt30 million.

All the judges stood up and left the courtroom immediately after Cheep finished reading the one-minute statement.

Only when reporters inside the courtroom came outside did everyone realise that Yingluck had failed to turn up. Some of Yingluck’s colleagues who were outside appeared equally bewildered after learning of the news.

Amid rumours that the former PM had already fled the Kingdom, her lawyer Norawich Larlang declined any knowledge of such an action.

The lawyer said he was only informed by a second-hand source at around 8am that Yingluck was suffering from vertigo and would be absent from the ruling day.

Yingluck was last seen in public on August 23 – two days before the |judgement day – making merit |at Wat Rakhangkhositraram Woramahavihan in Bangkok.

“We don’t know exactly in which country Yingluck is now,” General Prawit said.

Prawit, who is in charge of the police force, said he would not dismiss a high-ranking police officer rumoured to have helped Yingluck flee the country.

There was speculation that the former prime minister could have fled to Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai.

A security source said Yingluck went to Koh Chang in the eastern seaboard province of Trat and flew in a helicopter to Phnom Penh, from where she reportedly took a chartered plane to Singapore. She was accompanied by a senior state official who helped facilitate her departure without having to pass proper immigration process, according to the source.

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Yingluck after she failed to turn up for the verdict reading in the negligence case against her over her government’s rice-pledging scheme. The court postponed the verdict reading to September 27 and ordered the seizure of Yingluck’s Bt30-million bail.

“Political confrontation would lessen after Yingluck did not show up at the court, and this would improve the political climate,” he said.

Looking forward, the private sector expects political stability, he added.

He also said that foreign investors were not much concerned about yesterday’s verdict but they were more worried about whether it was safe to live in Thailand and whether they could make a profit.

The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced Boonsong to 42 years in jail, Poom to 36 years, former director-general to the Foreign Trade Department Manas Soiploy to 40 years, his ex-deputy Tikaporn Natvorathat to 32 years, ex-director of the Foreign Rice Trading Office Akrapong Theepvajara to 24 years, and rice dealer Apichart Chansakulporn to 48 years.

Looking stressed, Boonsong walked to the prison truck without speaking to reporters.

Prior to hearing the verdict, he said he had prepared cash for bail as well as a plan to appeal the ruling if it went against him.

“I’ve done my best to fight in the case,” he said.

The escorting of the defendants from the court was carried out under strict security by the police, with supporters of the Pheu Thai Party waiting for the verdict in front of the courthouse.

However, there was no disturbance from those in the crowd, who merely booed when the prison truck drove by.

Thousands of supporters had originally been present mainly to provide moral support to ex-PM Yingluck, but their numbers lessened after it was clear that she was not going to show up at the court.

For the sake of her own safety, it was wise for the former prime minister not to come to court to hear today’s final ruling in the case against her stemming from her government’s rice-pledging scheme, her local supporters said.

While saying that it may not be safe for her to be prosecuted under the current atmosphere, they also believed Yingluck would eventually come back to play by the rules when ready to do so.

“They wanted to make the judgement on Friday so they could detain Yingluck during the weekend, with her team unable to propose bail,” said a 50-year-old fan from Chon Buri.

“They just wanted to buy time. And if detained, anything could have happened to her during that period,” she added.

The supporter said she considered the charge against Yingluck of alleged negligence in the operation of the rice-pledging scheme, and consequently damaging the national budget, was unfair to the ex-premier.

“They [her accusers] magically turn stocked, qualified rice into rotten rice,” she said, referring to the ambiguous condition of rice stocked under the Yingluck’s administration’s scheme which, although said to be rotten, had been successfully sold to some extent.

Supiyada Choosap from Kamphaeng Phet and Chantalak Sangkhayothin from Phetchaburi were also among fans of the Pheu Thai Party who came to the Supreme Court early in the morning to wait for Yingluck’s arrival.

Though not getting to meet her as she did not in the end come to court, neither of them regretted their decision to turn up.

“We always love and have faith in Yingluck and will continue to support her. We don’t see the logic in the accusation against her and how she could be [said to be] wrong in that regard,” Supiyada said.

“If the Pheu Thai Party has existed long before [it came to power], I would have been able to receive an education higher than grade 4 in elementary school. My father would also not have passed away early if he could have been cured by the [later Pheu Thai-initiated] universal health care scheme,” Chantalak said.

“If you’re not grass-roots people, you won’t know how Pheu Thai’s policies really helped the poor,” the Phetchaburi resident added.

Early in the afternoon, thousands of supporters of the former PM were still waiting in front of the Government Complex in Chaeng Wattana, where the Supreme Court is located.

One of them told The Nation that she believed Yingluck would arrive later in the afternoon as she never missed an appointment with the court, nor with the people.

“The court’s statement saying that Yingluck is sick is only meant to make us back away, but we won’t. We’ll continue to support her even if she eventually doesn’t make it here today,” she said.

The Supreme Court has sentenced former commerce minister Boonsong Teriyapirom and deputy minister Phumi Saraphol to jail terms of 42 years and 36 years, respectively for their leading roles in executing fake government-to-government (GtoG) rice export deals.

The bogus contracts were related to the previous Yingluck government’s rice-pledging scheme. The high court said in a statement that a total of 20 persons, including Boonsong and Phumi, were found guilty, causing multibillion baht damages to the state.

According to the high court, both exministers violated several sections of the Criminal Code and abused their authority while implementing the GtoG deals which turned out to be fake with no rice exported to China as announced.

Instead of exporting the rice to China, the first deal led to the sale of 2.19 million tonnes of governmentowned rice at a relatively low price of Bt10,000 to domestic traders which benefited from the lack of competitive bidding, resulting in an estimated Bt9.7billion financial damage.

In the second deal, another 2 million tonnes of rice was also sold domestically at a relatively low price to Thai traders, not exported to China as announced, resulting in an estimated Bt1.29billion financial damage to the state.

After the verdict was read, Boonsong, Poom and other 19 defendants were escorted to Bangkok Special Prison.

Looking stressed, Boonsong went up to the prison van without speaking to reporters.

Prior to hearing the verdict, Boonsong said that he had prepared money for bail as well as planned to appeal to the ruling. “I’ve done my best to fight in the case,” he said.

The escort was proceeded with strict security by the police, with supporters of Pheu Thai Party waiting for the verdict in front of the court. However, there was no stir from the crowd, who only booed when the prison van drove by.

There were thousands of supporters mainly coming to provide moral support to ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra but were lessened after it was clear that Yingluck would not show up at the court.

Speculation was rife that Yingluck might have fled after she failed to appear at the Supreme Court to hear the ruling in the rice-pledging case.

It was also rumoured that the military might have had a role in her leaving the country.

Prawit said government security agencies had been monitoring both Yingluck’s movements and the national borders.

Officials watching Yingluck’s residence have not seen her leave home in two days, he said, while admitting that she could have evaded their notice by using any of several departure routes out of Thailand.

Prawit said there was no clear indication as to which route she might use. He had heard unconfirmed reports that she entered Cambodia via Koh Chang, but he had nothing else to add since he’d been busy attending meetings.

Prawit declined to comment on a report that a senior government official had helped Yingluck flee the country on Wednesday night.

Prawit said if that information proved to be true, the official must be disciplined and face legal action. If the official were in the military, he’d be sacked immediately, Prawit added.

Yingluck’s failure to be at the court at 9am resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for her and the seizure of her Bt30-million bail guarantee.

“I have assigned officials to check the normal entry and exit routes and find out where she is,” Prayut said.

He said he had no idea whether she was still in the country or had already left.

He added that he’d been “happy” when informed earlier that Yingluck would be at the court for the verdict.

Nathathorn was responding to speculation that the former premier might have fled the Kingdom after she failed to turn up earlier in the morning to hear the verdict in the rice-pledging case.

“I affirm that, up to now, there is no record of Yingluck leaving the country via any Immigration checkpoint, including those at the airports and on the borders,” Nathathorn said.

He said Yingluck had been formally barred from leaving the country since May 19, 2015, when the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Office accepted the state lawsuit against her.

He said if Yingluck had left on a private jet, a record of the flight would have appeared in the Immigration Bureau’s online database.

However, had she left discreetly via a land border, the bureau would have no record of it, he acknowledged.

He said the last time Yingluck is known to have left Thailand was in late 2014, when she travelled to Japan.

He did not reveal the worth of her assets already frozen.

The ministry last year ordered Yingluck to pay the state Bt35.7 billion, representing 20 per cent of the cost of the controversial rice-subsidy scheme initiated during her tenure.

It issued an administrative order to freeze Yingluck’s assets.

Her request to the Administrative Court to  grant an injunction against all assets seizures was denied.