Bangkok, May 19 (IANS): Thailand's former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Tuesday arrived at the Supreme Court for her trial of the dereliction-of-duty case regarding a rice subsidy scheme.

Yingluck is charged with dereliction of duty and abuse of authority in failing to stop graft and losses in the rice subsidy scheme, The Bangkok Post reported.

The losses estimated at over 500 billion baht (about $14 billion) were incurred when her government bought rice from farmers at above-market prices but failed to resell a majority of it.

The National Anti-Corruption Commission of Thailand has accused Yingluck of using the rice-pledging scheme to gain votes from farmers and win the national general election in 2011.

If found guilty, she faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

Yingluck, who was forced to step down last year shortly before a military coup, has denied to the charges and believes that they are politically motivated.

In January, she was impeached and banned from entering politics for five years.