LTTE raised funds during an agreement with Ranil Wickremasinghe French lawyers.23.11.2009

French Lawyers have revealed that top LTTE leaders in France had collected funds during the agreement that was inked between Velupillai Prabhakaran and the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe.

The Lawyers hired by the LTTE revealed this to a three- member judiciary bench in France. The future of the LTTE in France will depend on the verdict on case against 22 top leaders of the outfit, scheduled to be delivered today. The French prosecutors have demanded seven-year prison terms for the defendants.

They have been accused on charges of extortion, ransom collection under duress and threat, money laundering and funding a terrorist organization. The case which was filed after two years of investigations concluded last month.
The first 14 LTTE cadres were arrested in April 2007. The others were apprehended nearly six months later.

The French Police also charged that the group which was under the direct orders of the Head of the French Branch of the LTTE, Nadarajah Mathinthiran for acts of violence against those opposed to the LTTE.

Leading French lawyers who represented the LTTE cadres attempted to have the case thrown out at the beginning on the basis that the LTTE was not illegal in Sri Lanka. Their main point of argument was that the Sri Lankan Government headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe had granted legal status to the LTTE by signing the Pact. However, the prosecutors pointed out that there were numerous instances where the terrorist nature of the LTTE was evident. Those included crimes against international law, suicide attacks against civilians and political personalities and coercion, intimidation and violence for fund collection during the period in which the agreement with the LTTE was in force. As such, the terrorist charge was absolutely appropriate.

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