PUBLISHED : 22 Aug 2023 at 12:30
Former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra posted a message on social media wishing her elder brother Thaksin good luck and happiness on being back with his family in Thailand, after the fugitive former prime minister departed from Singapore on a private jet that landed at Don Mueang airport on Tuesday morning.
Yingluck accompanied Thaksin in the flight from Dubai to Singapore, to see him off to Thailand.
Along with the message on Facebook and Instagram, she posted pictures of her with Thaksin before his departure.
“Now the day you have long been waiting for has come,” Yingluck wrote.
“Throughout the 17 years (away from home), I know you have been lonely, unhappy and homesick. I believe it took you quite a long time to make this decision. You want to be with family and spend your life in our home country. I respect your strong determination. I will keep in my memory our trip together from Dubai and until you departed on a plane back to Thailand.
“I wish you good luck and a safe journey. Do not forget to take care of your health. Do not worry about me. I will be strong and patient. I will look after myself, although I will be alone in foreign land.
“For the past six years of my being away from home, you have taken a good care of me. I cannot help feeling sad because this is the first time we are not travelling together. Good luck, my brother.”
The Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on Sept 27, 2017 sentenced Yingluck to five years in jail for failing to stop fake and corruption-plagued government-to-government sales of rice from her government’s rice-pledging scheme.
The court pronounced judgement in Yingluck’s absence. The announcement was postponed from Aug 25, 2017 after she failed to appear. A warrant was subsequently issued for her arrest.
Yingluck was reported to have fled the country to meet Thaksin in Dubai before the court delivered its decision.