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 Yingluck, Thailand's first woman prime minister, was charged with
negligence for her role in a rice subsidy scheme that has cost the
state billions of dollars. She denies wrongdoing.
The Supreme Court would decide by March 19 whether or not to pursue
the case, court secretary Theerathai Charoenwong said.
Yingluck was forced from office last May over a separate legal
challenge days before her government was ousted in a military coup.
The coup ended months of protests organized by supporters of the
establishment opposed to her government's populist polices including
the rice subsidy.
Yingluck was not obliged to appear on Thursday but would be ready to
report to the court if the case proceeds, her lawyer, Norawit
Laleng, said. The government denied Yingluck permission to travel to
Hong Kong this month to ensure she was in the country to face
charges.
 The prosecutor submitted 20 boxes of documents related to the case
in the court, Kosonwat Inthujanyong, deputy spokesman for the Office
of the Attorney General, told reporters.
Yingluck is the younger sister of former Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, a telecommunications tycoon who shook up the political
system with policies favoring the rural poor when he became prime
minister for the first time in 2001.
The charges against Yingluck represent the latest stage in a 10-year
struggle between Thaksin, who was overthrown in a 2006 coup and has
lived abroad since 2008 to avoid jail for a graft conviction he says
was politically motivated, and the royalist-military establishment.
He or his allies, including Yingluck, have won every election since
2001, to the dismay of the establishment which sees him as threat,
although pro-Thaksin governments have only served one full term
because of court decisions or military intervention.
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A military-stacked legislature in January found Yingluck guilty of
dereliction of duty in relation to the rice scheme, in a retroactive
impeachment that carries a five-year ban from office.
The Office of the Attorney General on the same day announced it
planned to file charges against her.
Yingluck's critics say the rice scheme was an effort to buy votes.
Supporters of the Shinawatras say the charges against her are aimed
at ending Thaksin's influence.
Army rule has brought stability but the junta's national
reconciliation plan has failed to narrow political divisions. An
election will be held early next year, the government says.
(Reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat and Kaweewit Kaewjinda; Writing by
Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Simon Webb and Robert Birsel)
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