7. How the world has
reacted to the activities of the LTTE and
its front organizations in recent times.
a) The earliest action against an LTTE front
organization was taken in the U.K., when in
October 2000 (even before the LTTE was
eventually proscribed in the UK in February
2001), an investigation was launched into
the activities of the TRO in UK, and the
organization was subsequently removed from
the register of charities by the UK Charity
Commission on 10 August 2005. One of the
findings of the report was that “TRO Sri
Lanka liaised with the LTTE in determining
where funds could be applied” and also that
“the trustees of TRO/UK exercised little or
no control over the application of funds in
Sri Lanka and failed to demonstrate a clear
audit trail relating to expenditure. They
also failed to provide the
commission with any explanation as to the
provenance of some of the funds received
from the US and Canada.”
Although the TRO was de-listed from the
charitable organizations list in the UK, it
continues to collect funds within the UK,
through “White Pigeon”, another front
organization of the LTTE. (It is noteworthy
that subsequently both the TRO and White
Pigeon were proscribed in the US in 2007.)
Notwithstanding the de-listing of the TRO,
numerous LTTE front organizations continue
to operate in the UK to carry forward the
activities done by these organizations for
the LTTE. These include; ITRO, BTA, BTF.
Of these the BTA has been in the spotlight
of investigation since the June 2007 arrest
(and release on conditional bail) and
subsequent April 2008 re-arrest by the
British authorities of BTA Chief Mr.
Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar alias
A.C.Shanthan, who until the proscription of
the LTTE in the UK in 2001, was the head of
Eelam House, the LTTE’s International
Secretariat which was located in London. Mr.
Chrishanthakumar and three others belonging
to LTTE front organizations who assisted
him, have been formally charged in the UK
Central Criminal Court under section 15 and
22 of the UK Terrorism Act 2000 and the case
is pending.
b) In Sri Lanka, on the basis of
discrepancies in the collections abroad and
receipt of funds in Sri Lanka, as well as
disbursement in Sri Lanka in the aftermath
of the 2004 Tsunami, an investigation on the TRO was begun. Following investigations into
financial transactions by the Financial
Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank
established under anti money laundering
legislation, FIU suspended all TRO accounts
in Sri Lanka on 28 August 2006.
Immediately on the heels of the freezing of
assets of the TRO in the United States on 15
November 2007 the Government of Sri Lanka on
the 21st of November 2007 proscribed the
LTTE front organization – the TRO – in Sri
Lanka and appealed to international
community to follow the processes initiated
in the United States to curtail LTTE’s
terrorist financing.
A sum of approximately Rupees 71 million
which was lying to the credit of the Tamil
Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) at the
time the funds of the TRO were frozen in Sri
Lanka, has now been forfeited by the State.
The TRO accounts were suspended in Sri Lanka
in terms of the provisions of the Financial
Transactions Reporting Act and the
Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist
Financing Act in August 2006. Such
suspension was carried out on the grounds
that large sums of money received by the TRO
from time to time from international
non-governmental organizations, individuals,
foreign entities and TRO branches in several
foreign locations, purporting to be funds
for humanitarian projects in Sri Lanka,
were, according to intelligence reports,
mainly used to finance terrorist activities,
and that the money, securities or credits
which were lying to its credit were being
used or intended to be used for such
purposes.
Investigations are in progress to trace and
forfeit any further funds and assets
belonging to the TRO. Accordingly, the
general public is cautioned that they should
not have any financial transactions or any
other links with the TRO, or with any of its
offices, since any involvement including any
financial connection with a proscribed
organization, is a criminal offence.
c) In the US, on 15 November 2007, in terms
of Executive Order 13224 the U.S. Government
designated the Tamils Rehabilitation
Organization (TRO) as a terrorist entity and
froze the assets of the TRO in the US. It is
now listed in the SDN list of the US Office
of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under the
US Department of Treasury. In this regard,
US government statements noted inter-alia:
• The TRO was acting “as a front to
facilitate fundraising” and provide other
support for the Tamil Tigers
• “Passed off its operations as charitable
when in fact it was raising money for a
designated terrorist organization
responsible for heinous acts of terrorism”
• TRO is “the conduit of funds from the
United States to the (Tamil Tigers) in Sri
Lanka”
• Involved in the purchase of “munitions,
equipment, communications devices and other
technology” for the Tamil Tigers in Sri
Lanka”
• “The LTTE oversees the activities of the
TRO and LTTE linked organizations in Sri
Lanka and abroad. Directives issued by the
LTTE suggest that the LTTE-affiliated branch
representatives are expected to coordinate
their efforts with the respective TRO
representatives in their locations and
report on all activity to the LTTE”
As revealed in the US investigation, the TRO
engages in procurement of military arms,
equipment, communication devices, etc. which
activities point to its critical terrorist
linkage with the terrorist group – the LTTE,
and are also indicative of engagement in
terrorism including aiding and abetting.
The proscription of the TRO in the US, was
preceded by an FBI investigation of the
activities of TRO/USA and its transactions
and the arrest during the period 2006-2007
in various parts of the US and in Guam, of
17 activists for raising funds, money
laundering to purchase military equipment
including surface to air missiles, night
vision devices, AK-47s and to bribe state
department officials to remove the LTTE from
the foreign terrorist organization list and
to purchase classified intelligence
concerning the LTTE and to influence at
least one US Congressman. Most important
among them was the arrest on 25 April 2007
in Queens of the head of the World Tamil
Coordinating Committee (WTCC), Karunakaran
Kandasamy (alleged to be the LTTE in-charge
in the US), on charges of providing material
support to a foreign terrorist organization.
The group headed by him reportedly operated
in the US "drawing on America’s financial
resources and technological advances to
further its war of terror in Sri Lanka and
elsewhere”. A FBI raid on Kandasamy’s office
in Queens has
revealed evidence that he had raised
millions of dollars for the Tamil Tigers
through the WTCC. Already 4 of these persons
have been tried and convicted, while the
others are due to stand trial shortly.
d) In Canada, on 13 June 2008, the
Government proscribed the Toronto-based
front organization of the LTTE, the World
Tamil Movement (WTM), under the
Anti-Terrorism Act of Canada. The directive
issued by the Office of the Superintendent
of Financial Institutions advised banks and
insurance companies to notify the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or Canadian
Security Intelligence Service if they held
any accounts linked to the WTM. The LTTE is
entrenched in Canada and a 58-page RCMP
document refers to the WTM as "the Canadian
arm of the LTTE”.
Documents emerging from the investigations
into the WTM have established, inter alia
that the WTM is a foreign branch of the LTTE
and that the WTM received direct
instructions, through an ‘operational
manual’ dated 28 July 2003, from the LTTE
Leader Prabhakaran, inter alia, on raising
funds for the LTTE. The manual found, also
instructed that the younger generation
should be taken in for the “freedom battle”.
RCMP counterterrorism investigators and
Canada Revenue Agency charity regulators
also accuse the TRO in Canada of having ties
to the LTTE. It notes, "We believe that
there are
reasonable grounds for concern that TRO
(Canada) operates for purposes that conflict
with Canadian public policy". The head of
Canada's charities directorate wrote in a
letter to the group. "More specifically,
there appears to be reason to conclude that
TRO (Canada) may be functioning as part of a
support network for the terrorist
organization Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam." Whether to designate the TRO a
terrorist "entity" under the Anti-Terrorism
Act, is believed to be currently under
consideration in Canada.
e) In France, 21 activists belonging to LTTE
front organizations including Nadarajah
Mathinthiran, in-Charge of the Coordination
Committee of Tamils in France” (CCTF) were
arrested in April, May and September 2007.
They continue to be under arrest/on bail and
are due to stand trial shortly “for criminal
conspiracy with a view to perpetrate acts of
terrorism, financing of terrorist enterprise
and extortion”. It has been established that
TRO-France alone has raised 7.2 million Euro
during 2006 for the LTTE (where each Tamil
family was forced to pay 2000 Euros per year
and shopkeepers were made to pay 6000
Euros).
f) In Australia, having been arrested on 1
May 2007, on 13 Sept 2007, 3 persons, Aruran
Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan, and
Arumugam Rajeevan were charged for using
Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC) in
Melbourne to raise funds for the LTTE. Mr.
J. Jeyakumar, head of LTTE in Australia/New
Zealand and also a prominent member of TCC
was accused for the same charges, died while
the investigations continued. When they
reportedly appeared for the start of their
committal hearing at Melbourne Magistrates'
Court. Mark Dean S.C, the Commonwealth
prosecutor, told the court that US $1.9
million was deposited in a bank account for
the TCC between 2001 and 2005. He alleged
that US $1.2 million of that money was
withdrawn in cash and was used to purchase
electronic equipment and other items for the
LTTE. He said money provided to the LTTE was
collected under the guise of donations for
charitable projects and included money
raised after the 2004 tsunami. They have
been charged for collecting funds and
providing material support to the LTTE.
The Attorney General’s Department of Sri
Lanka assisted the Australian Federal Police
(AFP) by coordinating the connected
investigations in Sri Lanka and provided
evidence to establish that (a) the LTTE is a
terrorist organization & (b) certain items
procured by the suspects had been
subsequently used by the LTTE to commit acts
of terrorism. In late 2007, a committal
proceeding was held in a Magistrates Court
of Melbourne and the Magistrate held that
there existed a prima-facie case against the
defendants. The Defendants now stand trial
on Indictment in the Supreme Court of the
State of Victoria. As the LTTE had not been
proscribed in a timely manner in Australia,
now the prosecution has to go through a
detailed process of presenting admissible
evidence to establish that the LTTE is in
fact a terrorist organization.
g) In Denmark, TRO-Denmark has had its
assets amounting to DKK 52,000 (over 7,000
Euros) frozen for supporting the LTTE. The
action was taken 5 days after the US
proscription of the TRO. The TRO has been
forced to close down their offices in
Denmark in July 2008 due to the lack of
money to pay rent and the number of members
has fallen dramatically since the
allegations against the organisation. TRO-Denmark,
which appealed the conviction early through
Municipal Court and High Court without
success, is now before the Supreme Court.
h) In Italy, on 19 June 2008, Italian police
arrested 28 Sri Lankan suspected LTTE
sympathisers for providing funding for the
group. The suspects were arrested from 9
cities including Rome, Genoa, Bologna,
Naples and Palermo at the end of a two-year
investigation According to Naples police all
suspects are Sri Lankan citizens and
extorted money from their fellow nationals
in the various cities and sent it home to
finance the LTTE. The investigations are
continuing.
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