本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Terrorists behind Tamil fundraising group, RCMP says
Seeking charity status: 'Front' controlled by Tamil Tigers, expert testified in 1999
A Tamil organization that has asked Prime Minister Paul Martin for charity status in Canada so it can raise money for tsunami victims is a "front organization" for Sri Lanka's deadly Tamil Tigers, according to an RCMP expert.
During testimony at a refugee hearing, Fred Bowen, then an RCMP sergeant and Tamil Tigers expert, said "a lot" of the money raised by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Canada was sent to the guerrilla group.
The TRO, he added, "is controlled by the Tigers." The Tamil Tigers is an armed separatist faction responsible for conscripting child soldiers, killing two world leaders and carrying out more suicide bombings than any other terrorist group.
The testimony of the police officer, who has investigated crimes in Canada's Tamil community since 1991, was made in 1999 and released yesterday by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) following a request by the National Post.
On Monday, Tamil MPs in Sri Lanka asked Mr. Martin to grant temporary charity status to the TRO in Canada. The Prime Minister, who was touring the tsunami-ravaged island, said the decision was up to government officials and made no promises on the matter.
The TRO has long been accused of sending money to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE -- a charge the group denies. It says the money it collects finances humanitarian work in Tiger-controlled parts of Sri Lanka.
But concerns about the TRO's links to the Tamil Tigers have led federal regulators to repeatedly refuse to grant the group charity status, which would allow its donors to deduct their contributions from their income tax.
In 2001, after hearing testimony from the RCMP, a two-person panel of the IRB ruled there was "reliable evidence from three sources that affirm or strongly suggest" that funds collected by the TRO had been diverted to pay for weapons.
"The TRO is the rehabilitation wing of the LTTE; the funds it collects are used for both rehabilitation and weapons procurement. It is part of the LTTE modus operandi to siphon off funds that are intended for rehabilitation programs in Sri Lanka," it said.
There is no evidence that recent tsunami aid has been used to buy arms, but when asked during his testimony to explain how the Tamil Tigers raised money in Canada, Sgt. Bowen said it used a series of front organizations and specifically named the TRO.
"They're all umbrella organizations I believe controlled by the Tigers," the RCMP officer said.
"So TRO is controlled by the Tigers," he was asked.
"That's my understanding."
The veteran Mountie has been investigating crime in the Tamil community for more than a decade and served on the Toronto Police Service Tamil Task Force. He has also lectured extensively on Tamil extremist groups, gangs and crime.
He testified that his information came from his contacts with current and former members of the LTTE in Canada as well as Tamil community members who oppose the Tigers, but he would not name his informants.
He also said that coded information about the TRO was found on a laptop computer seized during a police search at the home of Muralitharan Nadarajah, an alleged LTTE activist who is being deported from Canada.
The Tamil Tigers also raise money by smuggling migrants to Canada, he testified. One smuggler alone had brought "thousands" of Tamils illegally to Canada over the previous 15 years, he said.
"The smugglers only operate with the blessing of the Tigers. There's several of the smugglers I know in Toronto, one has bragged that he's given over $7-million to the cause for the Tigers."
The Post revealed this week that a migrant smuggling ring run by the Tamil Tigers, which tried to bring suspected members of the armed group to Toronto through Mexico and California, had been shut down following a joint U.S.-Canadian investigation.
National Post January 19, 2005更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net