Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan-origin businessman arrested for alleged hedge-fund fraud in the US, was one of the largest contributors of money to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a top Tamil Tiger leader in government custody has revealed.
Kumaran Pathamanathan, known as KP and appointed LTTE chief after V. Prabhakaran was killed and the Tigers defeated in May, has said that Rajaratnam contributed lavishly to the LTTE and its sympathisers in the West.
“KP has revealed that Raj Rajaratnam, who was nabbed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations after listening to him by wire taps for criminal insider trading scams, has given money lavishly for the terrorist group and its Western sympathiser individuals,” the defence ministry quoted KP as saying.
KP, who was LTTE’s international relations chief and arms procurer, was arrested from a hotel in Kuala Lumpur in August, weeks after his appointment as the outfit’s chief.
The ministry quoted sources close to the government as saying that KP’s revelations about Rajaratnam’s contributions to the LTTE tally with some findings of US investigations.
KP, the ministry said, also revealed the businessman’s links with a top opposition politician.
{{/usCountry}}KP, the ministry said, also revealed the businessman’s links with a top opposition politician.
{{/usCountry}}These disclosures by KP, as claimed by the defence ministry, will be crucial as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has said that the government will not seize Rajaratnam’s local investment portfolio and assets till he is proven guilty of financing
terrorism.