FM urges int’l community to follow US example:

Call for global action against LTTE fronts

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Irangika Range and Sandasen Marasinghe

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday urged the international community to take tangible action against LTTE front organisations posing as charities in the wake of the US decision to freeze funds of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO).

“Yesterday’s action by the United States shows with no uncertainty that the TRO was not focused solely on rehabilitation but also on financing LTTE’s arms procurement.

This precedent set by the freezing of the assets of the TRO in the US following a detailed investigation, we believe should encourage other countries which are also investigating LTTE front organisations including the TRO - particularly Australia, Canada, Denmark, France and the UK, to take tangible action against these organisations,” Minister Bogollagama told Parliament yesterday.

He called upon the international community to act speedily in this regard.

The Minister also warned against possible attempts by the LTTE to re-commence the activities of its banned affiliated organisations by re-naming or re-registering them.

“While one can expect a significant decline in the monthly collections of the LTTE’s worldwide, estimated at US $ 20-30 million, at the same time we need to be vigilant, of the propensity shown by the LTTE to shift its operations from one organisation to another, when they realise its running into trouble with the law of the land.

Hence the need for vigilance, to ensure that the functions carried out by the LTTE front organisation the TRO now proscribed in the US, is not taken on by another front.”

He cited the example of the UK TRO operation which resurfaced under a different name.

“It would be recalled, how when the management of the TRO-UK was taken over by the UK Charity Commission in 2002 following a series of internal investigations pointing to misappropriation of funds and allegations of connection with the LTTE, and subsequently it was de-listed as a charity on 10 August 2005, 18 days later - on 28 August, 2005, the LTTE registered a company with Companies House, UK under the name International Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation London (ITRO) with the same aims and purposes.”

The Minister expressed deep appreciation of the Government of Sri Lanka and Parliament, to the US Administration, especially the Treasury Department, for the speedy investigation carried out and for the action taken against the TRO.

“In doing so the US Government becomes the first foreign government to take tangible action against an LTTE front organisation,” he observed.

The US Treasury said the “TRO passed off its operations as charitable, when in fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism”.

“This statement confirms much of what we have been pointing out to the international community with regard to LTTE front organization operations that have been taking place for decades,” the Minister added.