Released RCMP papers reveal:

WTM of Canada raised millions to buy weapons for LTTE

Walter Jayawardhana

Reporting on Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) documents released on April 15, Stewart Bell of Canada National Post said the Canada based World Tamil Movement who directly had connections with the leadership of the LTTE, according to a letter taken into custody, was requested by the terrorist group to raise Rs. 370 million or the equivalent of 4.55 million Canadian Dollars to buy anti-aircraft missiles, cannon or artillery, speedboats and aircraft for a protracted insurgency in Sri Lanka.

The report said the LTTE terrorists directly controlled (the) Canadian registered non-profit organization that fundraised and produced propaganda for the Tigers according to RCMP documents released on Wednesday. The WTM wired 3 million dollars to an overseas account, between 2002 and 2006 mostly to a bank in Malaysia, the report revealed.

The National Post report further said, The documents allege that the director of the Toronto-based World Tamil Movement of Ontario was personally appointed by LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran who is wanted by Interpol for terrorism. In addition, the documents claim the World Tamil Movement was told in 2005 to help raise $7-million to finance the purchase of anti-aircraft missiles and artillery needed to fight a war for Tamil independence.

The hundreds of pages of seized documents and unproven police allegations are the result of Project Osaluki, an RCMP counterterrorism investigation into the Ontario fundraising activities of the Tigers. Documents concerning a related investigation in Quebec were released last week, the report further said.

The papers were filed in Federal Court in Ottawa, the National Post said, as part of a government effort to dismantle the World Tamil Movement, which the RCMP says is the Canadian financial and propaganda support wing of the Tigers.

The LTTE have long been accused of financing their separatist war with money collected in Canada, some of it raised using pressure tactics amounting to extortion. The World Tamil Movement has denied any involvement in fundraising for the LTTE.

But in an interview with RCMP officers in 2004, Mariyathas Manuel, the then president of the WTM, admitted he had met Prabhakaran in Sri Lanka and that the LTTE leader had selected him to run the WTM office in Toronto.

"I believe that this shows that the LTTE is in direct control of the operation of the WTM," RCMP Corporal David Kim wrote in an affidavit. "This relationship between the LTTE and WTM is so direct that his appointment as the WTM President was decided by the LTTE."

Police also found a password-protected disc in the WTM office in Toronto. It contained a document named "Armscost," which listed the prices of various military items needed by the rebels. It was written in 2005, as a ceasefire was collapsing.

"At this time of the end of peace, the situation has arisen to prepare for the next stage of war," it read. "We are giving below, for you as well, some of the Army machinery that are required, for the next stage of the Eelam [Homeland] war: Anti-Aircraft missiles One Crore Rupees [CDN$122,000], canon or artillery One Crore Rupees [CDN$122,000], speedboats Five Crore Rupees [CDN$609,000], aircraft Twenty Crore Rupees [CDN$2.4-million], helicopter Thirty Crore Rupees [CDN$3.7-million]. With this in mind, please speedup and undertake your fundraising initiatives."

RCMP forensic accounting reports allege that, between 2002 and 2006, the WTM in Toronto wired almost $3-million to overseas accounts. Most of the money went to a bank account in Malaysia. Wrote Cpl. Kim, the funds raised by the WTM in Canada "have been transmitted to the LTTE for the benefit of the LTTE which is a listed terrorist group in Canada."

The financial reports also note that close to $500,000 was sent to a group called the Social and Economic Organization for Tamils, or SEDOT. Cpl. Kim wrote that the Sri Lankan Army had recently found the underground bunker of LTTE leader Prabhakaran, and that it was located in a SEDOT village.

"I believe funds collected by the WTM were collected under the direction of the LTTE and that documents seized from the WTM indicate that the purpose of collections was for the LTTE objective of an independent state," Cpl. Kim wrote.

The Canadian government placed the World Tamil Movement on its official list of terrorist entities last June, calling it a front for the LTTE and accusing it of using threats and intimidation to elicit donations from Canadians of Sri Lankan origin.

The government is now using the Anti-Terrorism Act to attempt to take over the WTM's buildings, bank accounts and other property. But the Court must first approve the forfeitures, and the Montreal branch of the World Tamil Movement has indicated it intends to appeal to the Supreme Court if necessary.