Three to plead guilty to funding LTTE

Three Melbourne men yesterday indicated they would plead guilty to charges of providing assets to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Lawyers for the men told the Victorian Supreme Court their clients would plead guilty once the prosecution filed a new list of criminal counts.

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan, who were not in court, have already had terror-related charges dropped.

They were arrested in 2007 and are on bail.

Nick Papas, SC, said if no evidence was lead by the prosecution on a third charge, Vinayagamoorthy would plead guilty to two charges of making assets - money and electrical components - available to a “proscribed entity”. He noted that nothing had yet been resolved between the parties about the facts relating to the charges.

Lawyers for Yathavan and Rajeevan indicated they would each plead guilty to one similar charge involving money.

Prosecutor Mark Dean, SC, told Justice Paul Coghlan the case looked able to be resolved. The case was adjourned until tomorrow.

(The Age)