In a 184-page affidavit unsealed by the Federal Court yesterday, RCMP Corporal Shirley Davermann details how the LTTE give instructions to Tamil activists in Canada, and how money is collected in Canada for the LTTE cause.

"In 2003, the LTTE issued a document called the 'Re-organization of foreign branches of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam' in which they dictate precisely how they want their foreign branches to be structured and operated. The Quebec branch of the WTM has been structured and operates as per the above-noted document."

That document, seized by the RCMP when it raided WTM offices and homes in 2006, is also referred to by the RCMP as the "LTTE Operations Manual." It instructs the foreign branches to "make all the necessary steps to receive monthly financial donations from each one of the Tamils . . . who are living in every country. These donations may be received through banks or in person."

Financial records seized from the WTM's headquarters and from banking institutions reveal that the WTM established a pre-authorized payment plan to collect money from members of the community. Between January, 2003, to February, 2008, the plan collected $302,000.

The RCMP alleges that the money was collected to finance the LTTE, which has helped prolong the deadly civil war in the south Asian country.
"The intransigence of the LTTE in the peace process is believed to be due in part to their ability to operate using funds raised from the Tamil diaspora, to which those in Canada are the major  contributors," Cpl. Davermann wrote in the affidavit, dated April 1. "The WTM is an integral part of the LTTE strategy."

The document includes the accounts of Montreal Tamils, who were forced to sign up for the pre-authorized payment plan before they could enter Tiger-controlled territory on trips to their homeland to visit relatives. They said they were surprised to discover LTTE members at checkpoints knew "everything" about them, including whether they were contributing to the cause back home.
Other documents seized at the WTM offices show that the WTM gave LTTE leaders advance notice whether Tamils planning trips to Sri Lanka were contributors.

The affidavit was sworn as federal prosecutors moved to seize the WTM's Montreal headquarters and its bank accounts, alleging that they were being used to finance terrorism.