Thai authorities have banned former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office for five years and launched a legal case that could see her jailed.

An army-appointed legislature impeached her over corruption in a scheme she oversaw to subsidise rice farmers.

The criminal charges, which also relate to the rice scheme, could result in a 10-year jail term.

The military has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when they overthrew Ms Yingluck's government in a coup.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the impeachment sends a strong signal that there will be no compromise and her family will be removed from politics.

Ms Yingluck and her brother, tycoon and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, remain hugely popular among Thailand's rural poor, but are hated by an urban and middle-class elite who accuse them of corruption and abuse of power.

Their party is the most popular in Thailand and has - under various different names - won every election since 2001.

Rice subsidy

The allegations against Ms Yingluck centre on a scheme in which her Pheu Thai-led government bought rice from Thai farmers at a much higher price than on the global market.

It resulted in the accumulation of huge stockpiles of rice and hit Thailand's rice exports hard.

Anti-corruption investigators have accused Ms Yingluck and her party of using the scheme to buy votes from farmers, particularly from their power base in the north, and allowing government associates to profit from it.

On Friday, 190 out of 219 lawmakers present in the National Legislative Assembly voted to impeach her. Eighteen voted against impeachment while the others abstained. One lawmaker was absent for the vote.

The votes were written on a whiteboard as they were tallied, and broadcast on national television.

Ms Yingluck has maintained that she was not involved in the scheme's day-to-day operations, and has defended it as an attempt to support the rural poor. She has also said that she could not be impeached as she has not held a position in the government for months.

Her supporters say the claims against her are a ruse to remove her from politics.

Ms Yingluck also faces up to 10 years in prison if she is found guilty of negligence of duty, which the attorney general charged her with on Friday morning.

Surasak Threerattrakul, director-general of the Office of the Attorney General, said after considering all the witnesses and evidence from the National Anti-Corruption Committee "we agree that the case substantiates a criminal indictment charge against Yingluck".

Source: BBC