The subsidy scheme did not work, costing the country 8 billion US dollars and leaving it with vast stockpiles of riceIt was reported that she had fled to Dubai 新记体育where her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, lives in self-imposed exile avoiding a 2008 sentence for corruptionHer lawyer said she was ill with an ear problem and could not appear in courtThe verdict was supposed to be read on Aug 25, but Yingluck, the country's first woman prime minister, failed to show upThe court then 新记体育issued an arrest warrant on her and postponed the verdictYingluck could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in prison if found guilty of negligence over a costly rice subsidy scheme that helped to bring her to power in an election in 2011