Yingluck Shinawatra was facing a lengthy prison term if found guilty

Thailand's ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra fled to Dubai ahead of the verdict in her trial over a rice subsidy scheme, members of her party have said.

Puea Thai Party sources said Ms Shinawatra left Thailand last week.

It was revealed on Friday that Ms Yingluck, who is charged with negligence, had gone abroad but the destination was not known.

When she failed to appear in court, an arrest warrant was issued and her bail was confiscated.

Dubai is where her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, lives in self-imposed exile. He went there to avoid a 2008 jail sentence for corruption.

"We heard that she went to Cambodia and then Singapore, from where she flew to Dubai. She has arrived safely and is there now," a senior member of the Shinawatras' party told Reuters.

Deputy national police chief Gen Srivara Rangsibrahmanakul said police had no record of Ms Yingluck leaving the country and were following the matter closely.

Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said Ms Yingluck's location would "be clear soon".

Judges have postponed the negligence verdict until 27 September.

Ms Yingluck, 50, has denied any wrongdoing in the rice subsidy scheme, which cost Thailand billions of dollars.

If found guilty at the end of the two-year trial, she could be jailed for up to 10 years and permanently banned from politics.

How could Yingluck Shinawatra have left?

Analysis by Jonathan Head, BBC News, Bangkok

Yingluck Shinawatra was the most high-profile criminal defendant in Thailand and was constantly monitored by the military authorities. So how was she able to leave the country just hours before the verdict was due to be read out? Immigration authorities say they have no record of her leaving the country.

However, it is a poorly-concealed secret that some in the military government would have been happy to see her leave the country before the verdict.

Had she been convicted and jailed, she could have been seen as a victim by her supporters. The government was nervous about their reaction. Acquitting her, though, would have been equally unacceptable to her hard-line opponents, many of them very influential.

That would also have undermined the justification for the military coup which overthrew her government. So it is unlikely anyone tried to stop her leaving, or that they will try to get her back.

What happened in court?

Ms Yingluck's lawyer had requested a delay in the ruling, telling the Supreme Court that she had vertigo and a severe headache and was unable to attend.

But the court said in a statement that it did not believe she was sick as there was no medical certificate, and that the alleged sickness was not severe enough to prevent her travelling to court.

"Such behaviour convincingly shows that she is a flight risk. As a result, the court has issued an arrest warrant and confiscated the posted bail money," the statement said.

Ms Yingluck posted $900,000 (£703,000) bail at the beginning of her trial.

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