Swiss Tamils biggest donors for LTTE: KP

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and expatriates in Switzerland contributed the most to the LTTE’s war chest, the captured LTTE leader, Selvarasa Patmanathan alias KP, reportedly told his interrogators in Colombo, the weekly Nation reported in its latest issue.


KP told Nation that he was not aware of the total collection received by the war chest as the LTTE founder V Prabhakaran had entrusted those functions to others. However, he confessed that the bulk of the money came from Switzerland, followed by UK, South Africa, Australia and Canada, the paper reported on Sunday.

The Island daily reported on Monday that KP had tried to send an arms-laden ship to the Mullaitivu coast in the closing stages of the war. The ship was due to land on May 20, but since the war ended on May 18, the vessel had to return.

Lankan officials grilling KP had been asking him about the four vessels which the LTTE’s front organisations were using for legitimate trade in the South China Sea. Lanka could act against these vessels if their owners had any connection with the LTTE.

Lankan investigators reportedly dismissed KP’s claim that he had convinced Prabhakaran to give up the military option and go for political talks with the Lankan government in the closing stages of the war. KP had been in the business of supplying weapons to the LTTE till the very last moment, Sri Lankan officials think.

KP WILL FIRST BE TRIED IN LANKA: According to Nation, Lankan officials had made it clear that KP would have to face the judicial process in Lanka before he was handed over to India for investigations into his role in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. It is learnt that India may not want the custody of KP, as he was not directly involved in the plot to kill Rajiv Gandhi. He was not charge-sheeted by the Special Investigating Team of the CBI in 1992. But India may want to know about the LTTE’s links with international arms smuggling and drug traffickers.

US pledges food worth $15 million: The U S Agency for International Development has pledged food worth $15 million to support the early return of people displaced by the war in north Lanka.


P K Balachandran