PM denies ordering vote against Yingluck

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Monday he had not ordered his military-dominated legislature to vote against ousted former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra when her impeachment hearing concludes this week.

Yingluck's supporters and former members of her cabinet say the National Legislative Assembly will vote against the former premier in a bid to try to end the political influence of her powerful family, including her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Prayuth denied those allegations.

"I have never sent any signal. Never. There has never been an order," Prayuth told reporters in Bangkok.

All 220 members of the NLA were handpicked by the junta, known as the National Council for Peace and Order. Around 100 of them are former or currently-serving military officers.

A decision to ban Yingluck from politics would require three-fifths of the vote.

The hearings, which began on Jan 9, concern Yingluck's role in a controversial rice subsidy scheme. The NLA will vote on Jan 23 over Yingluck's part in the scheme, a flagship policy of her administration, and decide whether she was negligent.

If found guilty, Yingluck would be banned from political office for five years.

Yingluck, Thailand's first female prime minister, came to power in a landslide election in 2011, backed by farmers mostly in the northern parts of the country.

She was removed from office in May, after a court found her guilty of abusing power.

Reuters - Xinhua