MONTREAL - Inside the school auditorium, the Tamil Tiger flag had been
raised in a solemn ceremony and the audience of 600 people had heard a
taped
address from the terrorist group's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. Then an
undercover RCMP officer watched as "a Caucasian male" approached the
podium.
"The male praised [Foreign Affairs Minister] Maxime Bernier and spoke
about
the position of the government, which is to favour the nonviolence,
diplomatic solutions to the conflict, etc.," says an RCMP affidavit made
public on Friday by the Federal Court.
When the speaker drove his Mercedes away from the Martyrs Day celebrations
organized by Montreal's World Tamil Movement last Dec. 1, a surveillance
officer noted the licence plate. It belonged to Maurice Brossard, the
Conservative candidate in the riding of Brossard-La Prairie on Montreal's
South Shore.
The school auditorium address was typical of Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam's strategy of using everyone from Canadian political figures to
ordinary Tamils visiting family in Sri Lanka to advance their fight for
independence.
An LTTE operations manual seized by RCMP in 2006 and made public for the
first time in court do***ents unsealed on Friday, reveals that foreign
politicians are central to the group's propaganda battle.
"The WTM followed the directives of the LTTE Operations Manual, which
dictates that the foreign branches must establish contact with
parliamentarians and political figures of all levels of government in
order
to advance their cause," RCMP Cor****al ****rley Davermann wrote in the
affidavit. Police uncovered the operations manual in a 2006 raid on WTM
properties.
Dated April 1, the affidavit sup****ted a federal application to seize the
World Tamil Movement's Montreal headquarters as well as its bank accounts,
saying the assets were being used to finance terrorism. (The Canadian
government listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group in 2006.) The
affidavit describes the WTM as a "foreign branch" of the LTTE.
The annual Martyrs Day celebrations held in Montreal typically feature
dozens of mock tombstones dedicated to fallen Tamil Tigers and
militaristic
banners.
At last December's event, children were photographed wearing LTTE T-****rts
and one young boy in military garb was shown brandi****ng a fake weapon.
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Brossard said he was approached to offer
sup****t for the Tamil cause but did not think he was endorsing the Tigers.
He said he did not recognize the flags on display as being those of the
guerrilla group.
"I don't know all the symbols," he said. "I was going there to sup****t a
peace process. The idea is to stop the violence. I don't want to be
associated with the Tamil Tigers. I don't agree with terrorists."
At the 2004 Martyrs Day event, Michael Applebaum, Mayor of the Montreal
borough of Cote-des-Neiges-NDG, was photographed in attendance. Tamil
Tiger
flags were prominently displayed at the event, as was a banner with the
logo
of the Black Tigers, the group's suicide-bombing unit.
RCMP investigators visited Mr. Applebaum at his office last February to
inquire about his participation. "Applebaum confirmed attending some of
the
events prepared by the WTM," the affidavit notes. It says he gave
investigators WTM do***ents requesting that he take part in other events
and
that the city provide financial assistance.
The inclusion of Tamil-Canadian children in ceremonies celebrating the
Tigers represents another prong of the group's plan for its foreign
branches, as discovered in a do***ent seized by the RCMP. An account of a
2004 training workshop held in Sri Lanka attended by Canadian Tamil
activists, it describes a speech given by Mr. Prabhakaran, the Tiger
leader.
"He strongly suggested that everyone has to believe in the absolute
victory,
and he explained that the younger generation that lives abroad must be
taken
in, for the freedom battle," according to the affidavit.
The organization's wide-reaching tentacles have created a climate of fear
among many in Montreal's Tamil community. One confidential informant told
investigators that the "WTM is omnipresent in the life of Tamil people"
and
ordinary citizens "are constantly reminded about the LTTE cause by the WTM
members." None of the three Tamil informants cited in the affidavit are
prepared to testify in court, fearing for their security.
The RCMP also interviewed five Tamil witnesses, whose identities are
blacked
out in the affidavit. The five described being forced to agree to make
regular payments to sup****t the LTTE before they could enter territory
controlled by the Tigers on trips back to Sri Lanka. The forms authorizing
monthly withdrawals from the witnesses' bank accounts were brought back to
Canada by Thanasegaram Chandrasegaram, a WTM fundraiser, the RCMP alleges.
The police affidavit provides the most detailed explanation to date as to
why the RCMP believes the World Tamil Movement has fuelled Sri Lanka's
brutal civil war by financially harnessing the Tamil Canadian community.
Although the WTM office in Montreal has repeatedly denied fundraising for
the Tamil Tigers, the RCMP says the Quebec group has been following
explicit
written demands from the guerrillas for money.
The Canadian fundraising operation is run by the LTTE International
Secretariat, based in Sri Lanka and headed by V. Manivannan, also known as
Castro, according to police.
In the LTTE operations manual seized by police, Manivannan advises his
foreign branches to take "all necessary steps" to collect monthly
donations
from Tamils living outside Sri Lanka.
He also spells out the types of fundraising activities that are to be
conducted, ranging from charging admission fees for music, drama and
s****ting events to selling reading materials on Tamil Tigers "liberation
battles."
The Tigers keep careful track of the international fundraising machine.
Foreign branches are told to send monthly income and expenditure
statements
to the LTTE International Secretariat by the 10th of each month. The RCMP
says it obtained a binder containing 64 pages of such re****ts.
A pre-authorized payment bank scheme appears to be the most lucrative
fundraising method. The WTM encourages Canadian Tamils to sign forms
allowing money to be withdrawn from their bank accounts each month, police
say. The RCMP do***ent says the WTM in Montreal has raised more than
$300,000 since 2003 using the method.
The WTM works in close co-ordination with the Tamil Tigers on the bank
scheme, police allege. The WTM sends the Tigers details about Canadian
Tamils, including whether they have contributed money to the cause.
When Canadian Tamils visit Sri Lanka, the Tigers will then check to see
whether or not they are contributors. Those who aren't are asked to sign
pre-authorized payment forms, which are sent back to Montreal.
"Karunananthaswamy was personally responsible for collecting the promised
contributions signed by returning Tamil tourists. There were approximately
150 names on his collection list. Karunananthaswamy received the
authorization forms on a regular basis from the LTTE in Sri Lanka and had
the mandate to enforce the collection," the affidavit says. (Manivannan
Karunananthaswamy is a WTM administrator.)
"Karunananthaswamy and Chandrasegaram have been visiting Tamil people in
Montreal in order to collect from the persons who signed the
pre-authorized
forms mentioned above and also to collect from those who are reluctant
contributors."
Other fundraising methods include a loan scheme and newspaper sales. "The
people feel intimidated by members of the WTM and feel obliged to give.
They
fear retribution if they refuse to contribute financially to the LTTE
cause," the police affidavit says.
Police estimate the WTM has raised $666,874 since 2001, just in Montreal.
Police say financial records show the WTM has been transferring the money
it
collects to the Tamil Tigers through the International Secretariat. During
one six-month period in 2005, the Montreal group sent $105,000 to the
Tigers, the police do***ent says.
In some cases, WTM members used their own personal bank accounts to
transfer
money, and were repaid later by the WTM. "LTTE activists are fronting
money
to the WTM, in order to make fund transfers to the LTTE at the required
time. The activists are then repaid from the money collected by the
organization locally."
It is unclear whether those making the donations were aware the WTM was
sending the money to the Tigers.
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