GOTABHAYA TELLS BBC SRI LANKA WILL ASK FOREIGN COUNTRIES TO HAND OVER MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF LTTE ASSESTS
Posted on August 21st, 2009
By Walter Jayawardhana
The Sri Lankan defence secretary has called on foreign countries to hand over Tamil Tiger rebels and their assets, worth of millions of dollars, BBCƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Anbarasan Ethirajan reported.
The report said the demand by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came weeks after the arrest of the new Tamil Tiger leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP who has been subjected to continuous interrogation.
Pathmanathan was arrested in Kualalumpur, according to unofficial reports earlier this month and ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-brought to Colombo in a swift and secretive operationƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚.
The Sri Lankan military crushed Tamil Tigers in May this year also killing their Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran . KP the most senior leader who escaped death as he was out of the country, self appointed him as the leader thereafter.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ “He’s a seasoned man, so he’s coming out with information very slowly during interrogation. He was the person who ran a massive network to purchase arms and ammunition for the LTTE for nearly 30 years,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was quoted having told the BBC. The report further said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The LTTE had a well-organised overseas network to fund their arms purchases.
Its investments abroad are said to range from grocery shops to real estate, from petrol stations to temples, from commercial shipping to financing movies.
But most of these activities were carried out under different names as the rebels were banned in many countries.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The estimates about the LTTE’s assets and investments range from $300m (ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚£182m) to $1bn. Mr Pathmanathan is believed to have substantial knowledge about these assets.
“Once it is proved that these assets belong to the LTTE, then concerned countries should hand over the assets as well as the remaining LTTE members to Sri Lanka,” Mr Rajapasa said.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-He said that “if the western world is serious about fighting terrorism” it would not provide safe sanctuary “to a terrorist organisation like the LTTE”.
ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The arrest of Mr Pathmanathan is regarded as a significant blow to the LTTE’s overseas operations, especially when it was desperately looking for a figurehead to revive the organisation and boost its sagging morale following its defeat on the battleground.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
August 22nd, 2009 at 5:58 am
Now here comes the problem with that. During the war, instead of engaging in proper deplomacy, these idiots in Sri Lanka was very disrespectful and treated those diplomats in the west like completel trash. They directect people to throw stone at their embassies and do many things. Now those same people in Sri Lanka expect those western countries to spend resources and effort to track down LTTE money and deliver it to Sri Lanka. These money must be hidden in various schemes and it is not like simply getting it from a bank. For that, these countries has to make a good effort as a help to Sri Lanka. My comment sense question is that why would you wants to extend a olive branch, go out of the way spending your own time and resources and help some someone, who has time and time shown complete disrespect and trash you in your face. Sri Lanka should have understood that after the war, they would have needed the help of these countries to dismantle LTTE network. This is a time even Sri Lankan govt. people are denied visa into many of these countries. Good luck asking them to help.