Tamil Charity organizations coming under vilification campaign:

Tamil Charity organizations coming under vilification campaign by K T Rajasingham Editor of Asian Tribune and Sri Lankan Ambassador Ravnatha Ariyasingha in Brussels, Belgium.
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/14692

Sadly, some of the facts published are true, although Sri Lankan Sinhala politics
are also a contributory factor.
Certain Tamils in the USA and Canada are under federal investigations, due to
financial irregularities. Interestingly the same individuals name come up in
Tamil charities, and Federal investigations including 3-4 US based attorneys, who
also are involved with Kasmiri Indians/Pakistanis and their lobby groups.
The US department of Justice and State are carefully monitoring the situation under trying circumstances.

Statement of Bruce Fein on January 22, 2008 when he was attorney for Tamils For Justice, responding to FBI statement "on Taming of the Tamil Tigers".
http://s227001311.onlinehome.us/pdf/BFeinStatement-FBI-01.22.08.pdf

i) TRO.

Ostensibly the TRO deals with “humanitarian action” and collects money to help the Tamil people in the North of Sri Lanka.

At present, LTTE maintains TRO offices in France, Belgium, UK, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa and in the yet to be cleared areas of the Wanni in Sri Lanka. It is believed to maintain accounts in all of the operating countries.

“LTTE Insiders” working in top coordination positions in the TRO, clearly indicate the direct control the LTTE exercises over the TRO.

- It is noteworthy that Lawrence Thilakar the former leader of the LTTE International Secretariat in Paris and LTTE Central Committee member, was subsequently appointed and served as the as the TRO’s Planning / Program Officer under his pseudonym Lawrence Christie.

Thilakar’s leadership role in the LTTE’s organizational hierarchy and his international experience on behalf of the LTTE, places him, as the TRO Planning/Programe Officer, in a unique position to plan and coordinate the TRO activities to meet the fundraising demands of the LTTE.

- Dr. Jeyarajan Maheswaran, alias Jay Maheswaran, the International Coordinator for the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, participated in the GOSL-LTTE peace talks from 16 September 2002- March 2003 as a “Rehabilitation and Development Expert” and negotiator of the LTTE delegation. Thereafter, Dr. Maheswaran acted as the Economic Advisor to the

LTTE during discussions with the country head of the World Bank (WB) and representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in July 2005.

The pseudo-charity nature of the TRO was first detected in the UK, when in 2000 the UK Charity Commission froze their assets and halted their operation in London pending investigation. The assets were later released, but the group delisted as a charity. The Statement resulting from the conclusion of an inquiry carried out on the TRO under Section 8 of the Charities Act 1993 (Great Britain), as reported by Burah Hathy, who was employed to
review the TRO’s operating system with emphasis on financial transactions, states, in Article 11 of its text, that while financial record keeping is adequate, "… the results of the review suggest that the TRO SL liaised with the LTTE in determining where funds could be applied”. It also found that once funds had been received by TRO SL, they were used for a variety of projects which appeared to be generally humanitarian, but not …. in line with the Charity’s objects".

The group immediately transformed themselves into a new organization ‘White Pigeon’ transferred over US Dollars 5 million to the White Pigeon. When that was also found out by the Charity Commissioner, they floated the International TRO (ITRO).

The catastrophic aftermath of the tsunami of 26 December 2004 was cynically manipulated by the LTTE, through particularly the TRO, to generate huge amounts of funds to its accounts in Kilinochchi. Post tsunami, the TRO/SL was in receipt of 10% of total remittances received by the organisation in Sri Lanka, that is out of 40 Billion Rupees received 400 Million Rupees was received by the group, which is 4 Million US Dollars. At the time GOSL suspended their operations, what GOSL was able to freeze was only 56 Million Rupees. Though these monies were purportedly collected for reconstruction activity in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan security forces which by July 2007 cleared the Eastern Province and in recent months most of the areas of the Wanni, have not found any evidence of such reconstruction. It is clear that whatever funds were received by the TRO, instead went into the construction of bunkers and fortifications for the LTTE, besides the large sums known to have been used for the purchase of weapons ( LTTE weapons worth Rs. 686 million was recovered in the recent Eastern operations) to engage in its terrorist activity.

ii) White Pigeon

Their role is said to be rehabilitation of those deemed to be disabled by landmines and war activities or any other reason in Sri Lanka. Dr. N. Sathyamoorthy began White Pigeon in the UK and is the Chairman of the organisation. He is also said to be the chairman of TRO in UK at the time UK authorities commenced an inquiry into its activities. UK Charity Commission launched a formal inquiry into the activities of White Pigeon on 6 January 2006, which is continuing.

iii) TCC/CCTF/WTCC/WTM

These organizations take a leading role in promoting LTTE interest amongst the Diaspora community in the West/Europe through coordinating most of LTTE sponsored calendar events in the guise of promoting Tamil culture, welfare and education that spread throughout the year. The LTTE Leadership in Wanni appoints the Head of TCC/CCTF/WTCC/WTM offices and usually the person appointed comes either from a militant background or is a close associate of the Wanni leadership.

These front organizations operate in many West/European countries under different names. In Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Belgium the organization as known as the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC; in France as the Coordinating Committee of Tamils-France (CCTF); in the USA as the World Tamil Coordinating Committee(WTCC), in Canada as the World Tamil Movement (WTM) and in Switzerland as the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC).

It is noted that when the LTTE was not a banned organization in Europe, TCC members did not hide their true identity as LTTE representatives. V Manoharan, former head of LTTE in Paris, was also the head of CCTF during 2001. V. Manoharan was also nabbed for smuggling illicit drugs into Paris in 1986 and has served a term in French custody together with seven other Sri Lankan Tamils and a Muslim on this drug charge.

iv) British Tamil Association (BTA)

The British Tamil Association (BTA) has been responsible for many of the political and propaganda events in the UK since the proscription of the LTTE in that country in 2001. Its head Mr. Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar alias Shanthan, who headed Eelam House until the LTTE was proscribed in the UK, is regarded the de-facto leader of LTTE in London.

The activities of the BTA receded following the arrest of Shanthan in June 2007 for holding pro- LTTE propaganda events and for involvement in procurements for the LTTE of a range of non-military goods, which were nevertheless being used in military activities.

v) British Tamil Forum (BTF)

The British Tamils’ Forum (BTF) is a key front umbrella organization of the LTTE, formed in the United Kingdom in 2006, with the prime aim of mustering the support of Tamil community and local Politicians for the Eelam cause. The motive of this later action is to attempt to influence the political thinking of the British government in favour of LTTE interests and gain access to voter lists and target Tamil residents for extortion. Through this process the forum has gained a certain recognition and appraisal from several Politicians and prominent figures in public life.

In its official website the forum states its aim as being to "highlight the humanitarian crises and human rights violations perpetrated by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), and to advance the Tamil national cause through democratic means”. Dominic Whiteman, Editor of Westminster Journal, observes that the banning of the LTTE in the UK in 2001 resulted in only one change in their course of action. They changed the name of their secretariat and fronts - and now continue to operate "business as usual".

Mass fund raising and propaganda events such as Pongu Thamil, Black July, Photo Exhibitions in London have been organized by the BTF in coordination with other LTTE front organizations such as Tamil Youth Organization (TYO), voicing strong support for self determination in the proposed state of Tamil Eelam since 2006. According to the Evening Standard published in the UK on 04 April 2008, at a meeting organised by the BTF, at the Excel Centre, Docklands, on 27 November 2007, a video message from the Tamil Tigers' leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, praising suicide bombing was played and a collection was taken for Tamil Tiger "martyrs". It further states that this meeting is the subject of a police anti-terror investigation. At present, prominent LTTE supporters, (Tamil Labour councillors) Daya Ida Kadar, Miss Elizabeth Mann with the backing of certain local politicians play an active role in organizing LTTE events in UK under the BTF banner. The BTF’s involvement with European Parliamentarians such as MEP Robert Evans, has also been exposed in recent times.

vi. Tamil Youth Organization (TYO)

This organization which has approximately 12 branches worldwide (Norway, Australia, France, UK, USA, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, Malaysia, Sweden Germany, Denmark) claims to bring together Tamil youth. However, it too has been engaged in a series
of propaganda activities and has largely taken over the organizational aspects of public events for the LTTE in the UK, holding fund raising events and seeking to galvanise the youth.

The President of TYO, UK Goldan Lambert (holding a French passport) was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Command on 21/06/07 under the UK Anti Terrorism Act for being associated with the BTA in organizing the Black July rally in Hyde Park on 25/11/06 and was formally charged in the Central Criminal Court, London under section 11, Sub sections 1 and 3 of the Anti Terrorism Act of 2000. The case is in progress.

vii. International Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (ITRO)

This organization was registered as a company on 23 August 2005 in UK, shortly after the de-listing of the TRO as a charity. It has been suggested that the intention was to project the image that TRO continued to function through another name. Registering as a company with Companies House is a new trend for LTTE fronts to avoid scrutiny. The Companies House which is the registry of companies has no mandate to investigate companies accused of links with terrorist groups etc.

One of the trustees of TRO, UK, N. Sathyamoorthy is a director of ITRO, which shows the clear link between the two. Significantly, another director of ITRO, Nagarajah Narendran, an Australian citizen, is involved with TRO Australia. In a letter to the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Australia, which was published in the pro LTTE website Tamilnet on 29/11/95 Nagarajah Narendran had clarified that “ITRO London is the representative body of TRO overseas branches”.

Following numerous actions taken against the TRO branches worldwide, ITRO has maintained a low profile and is not visible in its activities. However, it remains a properly constituted channel for future LTTE transactions.

a) Fund raising

Jane’s Intelligence Review of 1 August 2007, which notes that unlike the decentralised jihadist movement, the LTTE is a centralised, hierarchical organisation commanded and controlled by its founding leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, notes “the Tamil Tigers generate an estimated US$ 200 to 300 million per year” and that “the profit margin of its operating budget would likely be the envy of any multinational corporation”. At present, most of the funds raised from abroad have been reserved for the purposes of procurement of arms and high tech military hardware.

LTTE has regularized its fundraising process in order to ensure the continuous inflow of funds to meet ever-increasing expenditure of the organization particularly to procure arms. The collection from expatriate Tamil Communities in European countries has been identified as one of the major sources of income of the LTTE. Almost in every country particularly in Europe there are Tamil communities, Front organisations or groups that are sympathetic to the Eelam cause and these groups are actively engaged in collecting funds through various means showing that the funds are being utilised for the rehabilitation of Tamils in the North and East. An example is the TRO. It is a known fact that most of the funds collected by the TRO organisation in the pretext of initiating a number of humanitarian projects such as the Foster Parents' scheme for children are being utilised to strengthen the LTTE’s military capability and also to expand its international network.

The LTTE collects these funds either through voluntary contributions or through means of extortion, intimidation, threat and even violence. Those who refuse to contribute are told that their relatives in Sri Lanka "cannot be given any guarantee about their safety." An example of the above can be quoted, where a Tamil national who holds Danish citizenship had been harassed by LTTE when he visited JAFFNA in mid 2004, simply because he had refused to co-operate with the LTTE’s financial demands in Denmark.

In its March 2006 report, ‘Funding the Final War: LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora”, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) cites a Tamil Community activist in Toronto as saying: “Ninety percent of people, even if they don't support the LTTE, they are scared. The killing doesn't just happen back home in Sri Lanka. It happens in Paris, in Canada. They burned the library, (The TamilResourceCenter, burned by arson in Toronto in May 1994.) they broke the legs of DBS Jeyaraj. They tried to stop the CTBC radio from organizing. A journalist was killed in Paris. The threat is not only in Sri Lanka. It's everywhere, all over the world. … Many Tamils live in Canada or Europe fear for the safety of family members still living in Sri Lanka in areas under LTTE-control.

Since the beginning of the ceasefire in 2002, more than 200 people, mostly Tamils, have been killed in Sri Lanka, apparently for political reasons. Most of the killings were attributed to the Tigers...The Tamil Tigers also identify Tamils from the West who return to Sri Lanka to visit family members, and systematically pressure them for funds when they arrive in LTTE- controlled territory in the north of Sri Lanka. The assessed "rate" is often $1, £1, or €1 per day for the length of time they have lived in the West. Individuals who have lived abroad for years may be asked for thousands of dollars and told they may not leave until they produce the requested amount. In some cases, the LTTE confiscates their passports until the money is paid.”

TCC offices in Europe also operate a registration process of Tamil families by systematically registering and assigning a unique PIN number for each family and individual for illegal taxation and monitoring of their movements into Sri Lanka. The mechanism is used to extract funds – through threats and intimidation and other such coercive action – to sustain regular finances of the LTTE. The collection of personal data and use of such data for illegal purposes in itself violates European Council Directives on Personal Property.

Apart from its activities in Europe relating to human smuggling, drug trafficking, gun running and organized crime, the LTTE fronted petrol sheds help boost its revenue through credit card frauds perpetrated by them. LTTE agents sentenced in April 2007 are known to have skimmed credit cards for over 5.3 million Norwegian Kroners. The main criminal got 5 and half years in prison and the other 15-18 months. The cards used in this case had information skimmed from petrol sheds in England and Canada. More recently, the large credit card fraud perpetrated in London cost the British public almost 30 million Sterling Pounds. Here the LTTE had lent money to asylum seekers to set up petrol sheds and then force them to use skimming machines through intimidation. About 200 independently owned petrol sheds are currently being investigated. They skimmed data from credit and debit cards, which are transferred into bogus cards which are then used to rob millions of Pounds. Card details cloned in Britain have been used to obtain funds in Thailand where the LTTE terrorist group is also active.

In addition, there are seemingly legitimate activities for funds generation carried out through numerous front organizations and entities like NGOs and business establishments, such as gas stations, printing presses, super markets, video parlours, jewellery shops, phone card companies, TV/radio stations. etc. There are also collections from Sports & cultural events. The continued dependency of the LTTE for funds from overseas to continue its terror campaign in Sri Lanka and the continuing appeal for such funds from the expatriate Tamil community was demonstrated once again two weeks ago, when in the annual Martyr’s Day speech on 27th November 2008, LTTE Leader Prabhakaran observed:

"I would request them (Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora) from my heart to strengthen the hands of our freedom movement and continue to extend their contributions and help."

The opportunity in EU countries for Front Organizations to engage in fund raising, serves to strengthen the LTTE - a proscribed terrorist organization in the EU.

b) Money Laundering

The LTTE often use un-traceable, document-less transactions to move monies from one country to another. At present, the LTTE is extensively using this system as one of its main means of smuggling money to Switzerland from other European countries and thereafter from Switzerland to Singapore for onward transfers. It needs to be emphasized that collection of money in the EU countries are transferred and sometimes hand-carried to Switzerland, from where they are transferred to destinations such as Singapore for disbursement of procurement, as it has no legal restriction on monies leaving or entering the country.

The difficulties experienced in cooperating with some states has been a major obstacle in curbing money laundering by the LTTE and its front organizations, which has been a contributory factor in the prolongation of the conflict in Sri Lanka.

c) Thamil Cholai Schools (Tamil Blossoming Schools)

There are more than 300 Tamil schools functioning in Europe under different names, receiving host government funding, but are directly or indirectly administered by the LTTE. As per records approximately 20,000 Tamil students between the ages of 4 and 21 years are studying Tamil language, Sri Lankan (‘Tamil Eelam’) history, music and dancing, local languages…etc in these schools. LTTE is making use of these schools extensively not only to inculcate Tamil extremist nationalist sentiments and hatred towards Sinhalese in the minds of 2nd and 3rd generation Tamils but also to promote LTTE interest and raise funds for the organization in a well organized manner. In addition, children of these schools are being forced to participate in protest campaigns/propaganda events organized by the LTTE and its front organization operations in Europe.

In some of the Scandinavian countries, the LTTE has made significant investments in Mother Tongue Schools (Tamil Cholai Schools). In Denmark, the TCC operates 28 Mother Tongue Schools. In fact the head of TCC in Denmark Arul Thilainadarasa was elected to the Herning City Council which provided funding for several of these Mother Tongue Schools. Approximately 6500 students and 950 teachers of 130 Thamialayam schools in Germany have been instructed by the LTTE to launch a month long propaganda campaign, where children will be made to wear a colour photograph of a crying child in the Wanni on the chest pocket of the school uniform. The aim is to draw the sympathy of the local community to the LTTE cause, whilst creating a conducive environment to raise funds for the organization. In his recent Martyrs’ Day speech, the younger generation of Tamils nurtured through such Tamil Cholai Schools, were a particular focus of the LTTE leader when he observed;
“I would also take this opportunity to express my affection and my praise to our Tamil youth living outside our homeland for the prominent and committed role they play in actively contributing towards the liberation of our nation.”

The latitude given in Europe for the continuance of such institutions, would serve the same purpose, the dreaded 'Madrasas' provide to the Jihadist movement.

d) LTTE Owned Satellite TV/ Radio and internet net work

LTTE propaganda machinery in Europe can be defined as the live wire between the LTTE and the Tamil Diaspora and also its link to the International community. To this end, the LTTE uses every possible means to propagate its interests throughout Europe, both through electronic and print media, the former being the most effective. Prior to year 2007 LTTE dominated the Tamil electronic media in Europe whilst preventing the existence /emergence of any Tamil TV/radio that was neutral or harmful to its cause.

In April 2007 it became clear that the LTTE was illegally using an INTELSAT transponder to propaganda radio and TV programmes. This access obtained by LTTE through ‘INTELSAT 12’ to broadcast the LTTE’s so-called state television channel, National Television of Tamil Eelam (NTT), which was transmitted for more than 08 years, were ceased by ‘INTELSAT ‘, the largest US based satellite provider in the world in April 2007.

Following a French court order, the transmissions of the Tamil Television Network (TTN), the LTTE owned satellite television station that had been functioning for over a decade from Paris was also ceased in May 2007.

At the beginning of 2008, the LTTE recommenced NTT broadcasts through Hong Kong based Asia Sat with the help of a third party but that too was ceased in August 2008.

Subsequently LTTE elements based in Switzerland have made several unsuccessful attempts to commence “Euro TV” through Milan in Italy.

Tharisanam TV, which was engaged in promoting LTTE interest through Israeli based company Satlink Communications too was ceased in July 2008 following the intervention of Israeli authorities.

The LTTE exploits the Internet to the maximum in its propaganda work and maintains/sponsors a large number of sites in different languages. Since the mid-1990’s the Internet has also been used to raise funds for the LTTE and to glorify terrorism. In more recent times, following the restrictions placed on certain LTTE owned/sponsored satellite audiovisual channels, the LTTE has used the Internet as a method to circumvent these restrictions. Channels which are forced to cease transmissions due to links to terrorism, (i.e. National Television of Tamil Eelam(NTT), Voice of Tigers (VoT), Euro Television) continue to be webcast on the internet.

In September 2008, LTTE managed to register a Satellite channel named “GTV” through UK based OFCOM (OFCOM is the regulatory authority not the sat provider) and at present this station is extensively engaged in carrying out LTTE propaganda in Europe and Middle East and it is expected to expand the coverage to Canada and US in the coming months.

e) Criminality and mafia involvement

"Tamil mafia works hand-in-glove with the Tamil Tigers in their campaign to extort money from unwilling Tamil citizens in France and the mafia gangs keep a percentage and pass on the ransom collection to Tamil Tigers".

In the latest best-selling book on criminal gangs in France titled ‘Mafias Gangs et Cartels: La criminalite internationale en France’ (Mafias, Gangs and Cartels – International criminality in France), French author and criminologue Jérôme Pierrat, describes the fund raising activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) active collaboration with Tamil criminal gangs like Mukkapola, Minnale, Viluthu and Vennila. He reveals the underworld activities of the Tamils in France and their close links with the LTTE. It is to be noted that the same situation exists in most of the countries in the West where the Tamil Diaspora is significant.

He also notes that "... the Tamil gangs are said to be involved in racketeering, burglaries and other exploitation of illegal immigrants or shopkeepers, as well as drug trafficking and possessing stolen goods. But the biggest worry for the intelligence services is the link some of them have with the French wing of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lankan separatist guerrilla. The “Tigers” indeed had the monopoly of “mafia-like practices” within the community until the gangs appeared, with racketeering at the top of the list.” It is further noted that “if the money collected by the TRO was transiting through the account of the association in the Barclay’s bank in Paris, the cash was undoubtedly going straight to Switzerland and its banks, as it may be guessed from the seizure made on smugglers at borders. In February 2004, the customs officers of Ottmarsheim in the Haut-Rhin department arrested two men aged 44 and 35 together with a woman and two children carrying 200.000 euros in cash in their car. One of them acknowledged he already conveyed 5.4 million euros to a bank in Zurich during six trips he made in 2003.”

f) International telephone network

The LTTE’s international telephone network (Eg. Gnanam International Telephone Cards in the Europe,) is a further front which contributes towards the LTTE. Voice calls taken through this system are converted into data packets and transmitted out of the country through an internet protocol and reconverted in the receiving country into voice and thereafter inserted into the national telephone system. While undermining national regulatory systems, this unlawful system also prevents revenue to legitimate licence holders who operate international telephone gateways.

g) Propaganda, glorification & martyrdom

Only two weeks ago the LTTE concluded “Maveerar Naal” - the Martyrs’ Day, the week-long commemorations internationally organized by the LTTE from 21st to 27th November, which, besides commemorating the cadres who have died in fighting for the LTTE, celebrates the birthday of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran which falls on 26th November, and culminates with a speech by the LTTE leader on November 27th which is broadcast at these rallies. The speech is used by the LTTE leader to speak directly to the diaspora and encourage them to contribute money to the “cause” and thus has high propaganda value.

While organized under the names of LTTE front organizations such as the TRO and the TCC in most of Europe where the LTTE is listed as a terrorist organisation the posters advertising the parallel Martyrs’ Day celebration in Switzerland, where the LTTE is not a proscribed organization, the LTTE’s logo and name are clearly indicated on the bottom right hand corner as being the organiser of the event. This proves beyond doubt the LTTE’s control behind the organization of Martyrs’ Day across Europe and in other parts of the world, and that the advertisements of the event have been carefully crafted in such a way as to circumvent domestic regulations.

Besides the considerable propaganda value such events generate, these events are primarily used to raise funds for the LTTE by its proxies, particularly aimed at bolstering the morale of the diaspora and enhancing its depleting military capability, particularly in the face of its recent military setbacks in northern Sri Lanka

Such events which will serve as a blatant glorification of terrorism, where the cadres of an internationally recognized terrorist organization are being venerated and portrayed as an example of ‘martyrdom’, runs counter to the expressed policy of the EU to denounce such acts by terrorist organizations. It was vital that the EU come to an early determination as to where the right of freedom of expression ends and the European Council’s recently sanctioned regulations to curb terrorist related acts of glorification of terrorism and martyrdom begins.

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.

8. Danger of not taking action

Sri Lanka’s efforts to defeat terrorism could be wasted

At a time Sri Lanka is engaged in the difficult task of putting an end to terrorism in the North of the country, it is vital to also end the capacity of the LTTE and its front organizations to raise funds and engage in propaganda in western countries. Else the sacrifices being made on the ground would be wasted and the capacity to sustain the conflict will be revived.

No community insulated from the LTTE and its Front Organization activity

Countries of high intensity LTTE activities – their law enforcement and monitoring agencies, need to interdict the networks of the LTTE and its front organizations. They should do so not merely in terms of its international obligations to help in the fight against terrorism wherever it takes place, but also because today these terrorist front organizations are getting engrained into and are exploiting the body politic of many of these countries, abusing their grant of asylum and corrupting and criminalizing their respective societies.

Ramifications abroad of an LTTE defeat in Sri Lanka

Abroad, the situation is likely to get worse in a scenario where the conventional fighting capacity of the LTTE is defeated. In such a case, the pressure on the diaspora would be intensified by the LTTE. Networked and trained as they are, in order to survive, members of the LTTE are likely to be forced into engaging/prolonging clandestine businesses or engage in criminal activities as mercenaries.

9. What more should be done in Europe ?

a) List TRO and other front organizations or add as a.k.a.

Through Council Decision 2006/379/EC of 29 May 2006 the EC applied EC Regulation No. 2580/2001 on specific measures directed against groups and entities with a view to combating terrorism to the LTTE. Despite this stricture it is clear that the LTTE through its front organizations continue to engage in terrorist financing making a mockery of the EU listing of the LTTE.

With a view to addressing this continuing trend, Sri Lanka presented in June 2008 a comprehensive dossier to the EU on the TRO and other key LTTE front organization operations in Europe and elsewhere. This dossier was further supplemented with information on continuing appeals being made by the LTTE through the front organizations to the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora for enhanced financing through numerous propaganda campaigns and other means.

All our countries are obligated to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1373. Additionally all parties to the UN Convention on Terrorist Financing are required to take specific measures against fund raising activities of terrorist groups. The US and Canadian proscriptions of the TRO and the WTM respectively, provide a plethora of evidence that underlines the culpability of LTTE front organizations. It is necessary, that the EU address this phenomena in an effective manner.

b) Greater vigilance

It is of paramount importance that greater vigilance is exercised by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in EU countries on the varying methods adopted by particularly LTTE front organizations.
In this context, it is vital that the finance generating and arms procurement networks of the LTTE, which has a global reach and exploits Tamil Diaspora presence, is arrested in all parts of the world, simultaneously. Doing so piece meal within states or leaving lag time in action taken between states, will only allow the LTTE and its front organizations to move their operations to avoid detection.

c) Modalities for Intelligence cooperation.

It is critical that we identify the clandestine net work in place across the globe, involved in arms procurement and money laundering and other illegal operations. This is not something the Government of Sri Lanka can do on European soil, but must necessarily be initiated by the respective governments themselves.

d) Modalities for criminal justice field cooperation

Understanding each others criminal justice systems relating to terrorism, building of formal and informal contacts/enhanced interaction between relevant authorities, cooperation among prosecutorial authorities, exchange of information on a pro-active basis between relevant entities, cooperation between Financial Intelligence Units (FIU) in the respective jurisdictions and entering into Mutual Legal Assistance arrangements in criminal matters are some of the means through which this objective can be addressed.

10. Conclusion

The network of the LTTE and its front organizations transcends the national borders both within the European Union, as well as outside. We have seen sufficient evidence in the prosecutions such as those carried out in the US, Canada and Australia, that the operations of front organizations are an integral part of the LTTE. Taking concerted action against all entities who act for, or on behalf of, or at the behest of terrorist organizations, is an obligation all our countries have voluntarily undertaken under the numerous UN conventions on terrorism, which we have singed and ratified. Doing so has also cast on us, the obligation to implement these provisions equally, to all terrorist entities across the globe.

Sri Lanka calls upon the European Union and other European countries to honour its pledges in this regard with respect to the LTTE and its numerous front organizations operating in their respective countries. It is indeed, time to act.

References

Aryasinha, Ravinatha (2001) Terrorism, the LTTE and the conflict in Sri Lanka, Conflict, Security and Development 1:2 (King’s College Journal, UK)

Chaliand, Dr. Gerard (2007), The Threat Posed by International Terrorist Networks, presented at the International Conference on Countering Terrorism held in Colombo ,18 - 20 October 2007

Federal Bureau of Investigation (2008) Taming the Tamil Tigers: From Here in the US,
10 January 2008.

Gunaratna, Rohan (1998) Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Crisis and National Security, (South Asia Network on Conflict Research, Colombo.

Human Rights Watch,(2007) Canada/United Kingdom , Funding the “Final War”; LTTE Intimidation and Extortion in the Tamil Diaspora, Vol 18. No 1(c) (New York)

Jayasekara Shanaka,(2007) LTTE Fundraising & Money Transfer Operations, presented at the International Conference on Countering Terrorism held in Colombo ,18 - 20 October 2007

Jayasekara Shanaka, (2008) Tamil Tiger Links with Islamist Terrorist Groups, IDC HERZLIYA/International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.

Kodagoda, Yasantha (2007) ,”Terrorism : Defined and Criminalized”, 9th INPALMS Congress, 23rd – 26th July 2007(Colombo)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka (2007) LTTE: The International Dimension of Terorrism, (Colombo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Patterns of Global Terrorism 1997, US Department of State.

Pierrat, Jérôme (2008) ‘Mafias Gangs et Cartels: La criminalite internationale en France’ (Mafias, Gangs and Cartels – International Criminality in France),

Shain, Yossi and Ravinatha Aryasinha (2006) “Spoilers of catalysts: The role of diasporas in peace process”, (Ed) Edward Newman and Oliver Richmond, The Challenges to Peace Building; Managing Spoilers during Conflict Resolution, (NY, UN University Press)

Solomon, John and B.C. Tan (2007) “Feeding the Tiger – how Sri Lankan insurgents fund their way”, September 2007 issue of the leading London, Jane’s Intelligence Review, 1 August 2007.

- Asian Tribune -