CONTROVERSY: Sri Lankans in Canada accused of funding terrorism

Big news out of Canada last week as an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed thousands of Sri Lankans based in Canada have allegedly been funding terrorist activities by the Tamil Tigers.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail's coverage:

The Tigers' operation in Canada, responsible for providing 15 per cent of global funds for the secession movement, identified potential donors by postal code and used a "sales team" of locals to extract the cash, alleges the 400-page police affidavit unsealed in the Federal Court of Canada this week.

The affidavit suggests the Toronto offices of the World Tamil Movement - a non-profit organization - may have been generating funds for the Tigers. The RCMP says it has also obtained a significant letter sent to Toronto from the head of the Tamil Tigers. Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the world's most sought-after fugitives, is said to have urged that Canadian Tamils commit about 15 per cent of the global contribution to his cause.

The money was moved using an elaborate system with the leaders of the World Tamil Movement acting as “straw men and figureheads who got their direction from Sri Lanka.”

Participation in the scheme was not exactly voluntary:

Payment is said to have been made easy - and almost impossible to avoid. Tamils were allegedly encouraged to enter into pre-authorized payment schemes, so transfers to the World Tamil Movement would be no harder than paying a credit card. Lists of who paid - and who didn't - were so meticulously kept, the Mounties say, that Canadian Tamils who returned to Sri Lanka for visits risked being questioned by local Tamil Tiger henchmen who knew whether visitors had made contributions in Canada.

Sitha Sittampalam, the president of the World Tamil Movement, denied the charges and said the Tigers should not be classified as a terrorist group, the Star reported on Saturday.

"We do not have any fundraising activities for terrorism," or any connection with the Tigers, Sittampalam told the Star yesterday during an interview in the Tamil movement's Scarborough office.

However, he said: "We consider LTTE as a movement to fight and liberate our people. We don't consider the LTTE as a terrorist organization.

"We feel that the (Canadian) government is really misplaced in doing this, in listing it as a terrorist organization.

"It has the support of the people. It has a cause. It has an objective. It's not violence for the sake of it without any cause.

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