KAMALIKA PIERIS

In 2007 Janes Intelligence Review issued a report on the LTTE, saying that the LTTE had created one of the most sophisticate insurgencies in the world, largely due to a complex global network of financial resources and weapons. It has a financial and procurement structure well organized and strategically positioned around the globe and a profit margin that would be the envy of any multinational corporation, Some USD 200 to 300 million a year. Critics observed that the Tamil Separatist Movement could not have generated such a complex venture on its own.

Al Jazeera said in 2008 LTTE’s financial infrastructure is among the most complex and most secret of any terrorist group. It has investments in stocks and money markets, real estate, restaurants and a large number of Asian grocery stores throughout the world. Its shipping operations carry legitimate goods and also engage in the smuggling of drugs, arms, gold, and has been charged with human trafficking to UK and parts of Europe, as well.

The LTTE is known to own and operate business enterprises in Europe, Canada and South East Asia, said Shanaka Jayasekera. Some businesses were legal,  others were not. Legal business ventures include real estate, supermarkets and petrol filling stations. Thamilini Restaurant in Zurich, Makkal Kadai Supermarket in Paris, Ashley Cash & Carry in Harrow, and Thamilini Cash &Carry in Southall are considered to be LTTE businesses. Funds also came in from LTTE fronts, which included charitable organizations.

It is well known that the main source of LTTE funds  come from illegal means such as human trafficking, credit card scams,  illegal passports, forged currency and  robbery, said analysts. These are criminal activities. Thompson observed that this criminal network was for Eelam, there was no indication that LTTE was in business for itself.

The speed with which Tamil organized crime network became established internationally in the 1980s and early 1990s was remarkable, said Thompson. This indicates once again that the Tamil Separatist Movement was assisted by the west, said critics.

‘Organized criminal activity in any western country requires a degree of cooperation with various other criminal societies. Criminal enterprises have always worked closely together.  LTTE criminal enterprises have cooperated with Bikers, Chinese Triads, Russian and Italian Mafias and a variety of other groups, said Thompson.

The ability of the LTTE international network to evade detection and maintain flow of funds reflects the sophistication and robust nature of the operation, commented Shanaka Jayasekera. LTTE had developed its own intelligence to get tipped off when a crackdown was planned by the authorities.

The LTTE used legitimate channels for donations from NGOs and INGOs. Non formal channels were used for other transactions. Funds were stored in secret bank accounts in Netherlands and UK which were controlled by the Castro network, said Shanaka Jayasekera in 2009.

The LTTE has developed the most sophisticated infrastructure for fundraising and money
transfer operations in comparison to any other terrorist group  said Shanaka in 2007The intent of the LTTE is to progress towards activities that can generate a stable income.

According to Shanaka, the main conduit for money transfer was the Sana Group. It had a Principal Controller and 08 trust-managers located in Europe, North America and South East Asia.No funds are held by the Controller. Funds were held by the trust managers. The Controller maintained records received from each trust-manager on the current availability of financial resources and the state of its assets.

The funds allocated for procurement were sent to designated trust-managers and held in safe locations. These transfers were done in several ways, bank transfers, human couriers and over invoicing import-export transactions. The trust-managers place the funds in multiple
forms of investment to avoid detection by regulatory authorities.

When the LTTE procurement needed money, the Controller   tells one of the managers to transfer money. The money was transferred to multiple locations in non-detectable blocks. The   persons dealing with procurement gather it all together, most often in a south East Asian country.

The best example of this process is the evidence emerging out of the FBI sting operation in Guam, said Shanaka. The LTTE sent a three-man team to Guam Island on 26 September 2006. After inspecting a consignment of weapons presented by undercover FBI agents, the team made an advance payment in Malaysia and transferred US $ 452,000 to a Baltimore bank account.

The LTTE also had another informal system. LTTE developed a robust informal remittance system referred to as the Undi” system (Hawala), said Shanaka. The Tamil Diaspora used this to transfer money to relatives in Sri Lanka living in areas without banks.

The Undi system is controlled by a small cartel of Tamil Jewellery shop owners in Switzerland and Canada. They use the money to facilitate the falsely-declared import of gold jewellery into Europe from the Gold Market in Singapore.  Jewellery shops owners in Switzerland provide a combined pool of funds to the LTTE for the purchase of gold jewellery from Singapore.

The LTTE Finance unit in Switzerland facilitates the money transfer using human couriers from Switzerland to Singapore. These couriers also carry money to LTTE holding accounts in South East Asia. The couriers return to Switzerland with receipts that have significantly overvalued the gold jewelry purchased in Singapore. In some cases craftsmanship value-addition has been five times the value of the gold component.

But the LTTE sometimes got caught in their criminal activities. Cambodian government sought the assistance of Interpol to track the head of LTTE procurement operation in Cambodia, Renni Lerin on charges of human smuggling.

Tamil Rehabilitation Organization was globally known as a LTTE organization. UNICEF had given it around US$ 800,000, before it stopped following adverse reports. German Technical Cooperation, GTZ also had an agreement with TRO which ended in 2006 after they received adverse reports about the organization.

In Switzerland, the Office of the Attorney General launched a vast sting operation in several Swiss cantons. Thirteen financiers accused of funneling more than   15 million Swiss francs, ($15.3 million) to LTTE were arrested in Switzerland in 2018. The accused were from Switzerland, Germany and Sri Lanka. They included the founder of World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), his deputy and the person in charge of finances.

LTTE  had, it is suspected collected the money by means of threats and by creating a regime of fear to induce them to make the payments. Around 80% of Tamils living in Switzerland had made payments. The Swiss funds were transported in cash by couriers to Singapore and Dubai.

Further, between 1999 and 2009, the WTCC, presumably, had created a complex fundraising structure which involved coaxing Tamil Diaspora to obtain loans from banks.   WTCC had also created fictitious companies in the name of borrowers and issued fake certificates.   (Continued)