Dutch seek SL permission to question former LTTE leaders

Dutch authorities investigating the financial network of the LTTE in the Netherlands are in the process of seeking permission from Sri Lankan authorities to interrogate former and current LTTE leaders in Sri Lanka, a Dutch media report said.

A Radio Netherlands report said Dutch authorities are currently negotiating with Sri Lankan Attorney General Mohan Peiris for permission to interrogate 13 witnesses in Sri Lanka including former and current LTTE leaders next month.

According to the report the Dutch magistrates and lawyers are also to travel to the United States to interrogate several US-based witnesses.

In the US, the Dutch investigators plans to interrogate an LTTE leader named Pratheepan Thavaraja, who has struck a plea bargain agreement with the US authorities admitting he had purchased weapons for the LTTE.

According to an FBI report Pratheepan Thavaraja was a senior procurement agent for the LTTE involved in the purchase of improvised explosive devices, missiles, machine guns, artillery, radar, and other equipment and technology from countries around the world, including the US.

Pratheepan’s laptop computer has contained a list of ‘priority items’ worth $ 20 million to purchase for the LTTE.

The List, according to the FBI, included, among other things, six “25mm Anti-Aircraft Gun[s]” at $160,000 each, six “30 mm Twin Barrel Mounted Naval Gun[s] Type 69 (with base)” at $30,000 each, thousands of automatic rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, grenade launchers, 50 tonnes of C4 explosive, five tonnes of “Phlegmatised RDX” explosive, 50 tonnes of “TNT-based on Chinese specification,” and 50 tonnes of Tritonal explosive.

The Dutch investigators said Pratheepan’s computer revealed that Ramachandran from the Netherlands had cooperated with Pratheepan in the weapon purchases.On Wednesday a Dutch investigative team, along with lawyers of the suspects in the Netherlands, will travel to Oslo to interrogate Nediyavan, the Oslo-based LTTE leader who was arrested by the Norwegian authorities. The Dutch investigators believe he has contributed millions to the LTTE.

The Dutch authorities have launched a complex and elaborate investigation called ‘Operation Koninck’ to uncover the prominent role LTTE leaders in the Netherlands played in financing the civil war in Sri Lanka.

According to the Radio Netherlands report, some 90 witnesses have been heard, dozens of house searches have been conducted, and numerous documents, photos, computers, CDs and DVDs have been obtained.

(www.info.gov.lk)

UN report on

Sri Lanka is still being studied

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is studying the recommendations made in the report by the Panel of Experts, appointed by him to probe Sri Lanka’s accountability issue during the later stage of the war, the spokesperson for the UN Chief said yesterday.

Responding to a media query, Martin Nesirky, the spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon said the report submitted to the UN Chief last month by the Panel is in the public domain and anyone can access it.

When asked whether the UN chief has transmitted the report formally to either the High Commissioner on Human Rights or to the Human Rights Council, the spokesperson said the report is publicly available, in its entirety for Member States and for the different parts of the UN system to see.

The Secretary-General, while awaiting an official response from the Sri Lankan authorities, is to take up the recommendation that was made with regard to looking at what there is to learn internally about the UN’s response to what happened in Sri Lanka, Nesirky said.

“And that mechanism of whatever form it takes will be going ahead in due course,” he added.

The Sri Lankan government last month rejected the report saying that it is “fundamentally flawed in many respects” but has not responded formally to the allegations in the report yet.