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Wednesday, February 03, 2010 - 05.30 GMT |
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Three Tamils in
Australia plead guilty for LTTE fund raising |
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Three
men from
Australia
have
pleaded
guilty
for
providing
more
than $1
million
for the
LTTE
between
2004 and
2007.
The men
from
Melbourne
Aruran
Vinayagamoorthy,
35 and
Sivarajah
Yathavan,
38,
along
with
43-year-old
New
South
Wales
man
Arumugam
Rajeevan,
have
pleaded
guilty
for
providing
money to
the LTTE.
Vinayagamoorthy
has also
admitted
to
supplying
electronic
equipment
to the
group.
The
three
men were
arrested
during
an
Australian
Federal
Police
investigation
in 2007.
In a
plea
hearing
before
Justice
Paul
Coghlan,
Prosecutor
Mark
Dean SC
told the
court
Vinayagamoorthy
sent
$97,000
worth of
radio
trans-servers
to Sri
Lanka
which
were
then
used in
paramilitary
operations,
including
roadside
bomb
attacks.
He
argued
he and
his two
co-defendants
had a
close
association
with the
organisation,
acting
on its
behalf
in
Australia.
"They
were not
mere
supporters
of the
cause,
they
were
senior
members
of the
Tamil
Tigers
in
Australia,"
the
senior
counsel
said.
The
court
heard
Vinayagamoorthy
was
instrumental
in
raising
money
for the
group
and
between
them
they had
transferred
$1,030,000
to Sri
Lanka,
reported
ABC.
The LTTE
is
currently
listed
under
the
United
Nations
as a
terrorist
organisation
in
Australia.
The plea
hearing
continues.
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