Twenty two suspected LTTE members went on trial on Monday for running an extortion racket among Paris' Tamil expatriates to fund their separatist struggle in Sri Lanka.

The defendants include Nadaraja Matinthiran, the alleged LTTE leader in France, who is accused of extorting some five million euros (S$10 million) from the country's 75,000 Tamils.

Also in the dock is a group called the Tamil Coordination Committee in France, believed to be a legal front for the LTTE, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union since 2006, reported the AFP.

Experts believe the LTTE exert a controlling influence over the political life of the 1.5-million-strong world Tamil expatriates, in many cases levying a 'revolutionary tax' based on household size and income.

Many LTTE suspects in Paris were arrested in April 2007 and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism or racketeering to finance terrorism.