Thai Supreme Court issues arrest warrant for former PM Yingluck

FILE PHOTO: Ousted former Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra stands while receiving foreign media at her vegetables garden at her house in Bangkok, Thailand, February 12, 2016. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the court said in a statement on Friday. The country's deputy prime minister said earlier that it was possible Yingluck, who was ousted by a military coup in 2014, has fled the country. Thailand's immigration police chief said he had no information to suggest she has left Thailand through the country's border checkpoints. Yingluck faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty in a negligence case brought by the ruling junta that centers on her role in a rice subsidy scheme for farmers that resulted in multi-billion dollar losses. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Pracha Hariraksapitak and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)