UNP MP gets funds from Rajaratnam?

Wijitha Nakkawita

Colombo District UNP parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake’s name is being mentioned about receiving funds from US based millionaire Raj Rajaratnam. He was arrested by the US Central Bureau of Investigations on allegations of defrauding the stock market, obtaining confidential information on corporate bodies illegally and also funding the LTTE front organization TRO to siphon off funds for the terrorist group before it was defeated in May.

Karunanayake and two others were indicted in the High Court of Colombo in connection with the transfer of US $ 3 million from USA to a bank account in Colombo violating the Exchange Control Act.

The trial had been fixed for hearing on February 2, 2010, by High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundara. International news networks including CNN said the hedging business conglomerate that Rajaratnam operated in the US had made access to confidential information of certain private sector companies and had made profits after studying the weaknesses of some of them. Rajaratnam was alleged to have provided US$ 3.5 million to the LTTE front.

“In 2007 Rajaratnam’s name arose in connection with an inquiry into fund raising for the LTTE, which was defeated in May after a quarter century of violence.

“The defendants operated a cozy world of ‘You scratch my back, I scratch your back’ the United States attorney for Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said on Friday (16). He added that the case should be a wake up call for hedge fund managers who even think about insider trading.

“In 2005 and 2006 the charity he created Tsunami Relief gave US $ 1.5 million to the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, a group officially dedicated to helping victims of the fighting. But prosecutors have since charged the Tamil charity with aiding the rebel group and its non profit status has been suspended,” CNN news service said yesterday.