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The World Tamil Movement of Ontario is a
non-profit organization that fundraised and
produced propaganda for the LTTE, According
to the RCMP documents released Wednesday.
The National Post reported.
The documents allege that the director
of the Toronto-based World Tamil Movement of
Ontario was personally appointed by the
leader of the LTTE, 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. It
added.
Here are excerpts of the news report
published by the National Canadian Post:
The documents allege that the director of
the Toronto-based World Tamil Movement of
Ontario was personally appointed by the
leader of the Tamil Tigers, 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 Tamil
Tigers. were filed in Federal Court in
Ottawa 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 Tamil Tigers.
Reached at home in Scarborough, Ont., on
Wednesday, the current president of the
World Tamil Movement, Sitta Sittampalam,
declined to answer questions about the
allegations. "No comment," he said.
The dossier's release comes as protesters
waving red flags bearing the Tamil Tigers
emblem demonstrate on Parliament Hill to
demand that Canada do more to pressure Sri
Lanka into calling a ceasefire.
The Sri Lankan forces have cornered the
Tamil Tigers in a small pocket of coastal
jungle, but the United Nations is concerned
about the more than 100,000 civilians in the
war zone. The government called a two-day
ceasefire on the weekend for New Year's
celebrations but has rejected international
calls for a permanent truce.
The rebels said they are willing to
negotiate but refuse to lay down arms.
The Tamil Tigers 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 rebels,
also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam, or LTTE.
But in an interview with RCMP officers in
2004, Mariyathas Manuel, then the president
of the WTM, admitted he had met Mr.
Prabhakaran in Sri Lanka and that the
guerrilla 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."
Asked if the Canadian group supported the
Tamil Tigers financially, Mr. Manuel
replied: "Yeah. Financially, yeah. And also
we are supporting LTTE too for the
propaganda." However, he said the money was
strictly for humanitarian aid.
But Cpl. Kim said police had found a 2001
fundraising letter asking Canadian Tamils to
"please contribute to the maximum extent so
that we continue to maintain our strength in
the war front." The letter was printed on
WTM letterhead, was signed World Tamil
Movement and provided the group's Toronto
phone number.
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,
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
Social and Economic Organization for Tamils,
or SEDOT. Cpl. Kim wrote that the Sri Lankan
army had recently found the underground
bunker of Tamil Tigers 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 Tamil Tigers 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.
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