 | The court heard that a large portion of the funds was collected after the December 2004 tsunami |
Three men on terror charges have been accused of collecting $1.9 million in charitable donations from Australia's expat Tamil community and using a chunk of the funds to buy electronic and marine equipment similar to that used in suicide bombings. Melbourne Magistrates Court was told yesterday that Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 33, Sivarajah Yathavan, 36, and Arumugam Rajeevan, 41, formed the Australian arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, also known as the Tamil Tigers. Commonwealth Prosecutor Mark Dean SC said the men were in constant contact with central LTTE command in northern Sri Lanka and formed part of an internationally organised network that provided $50million a year for the terror group.
Mr Dean told the court that $1.9million was deposited into the bank account of an Australian group called the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee, which was the "vehicle" for LTTE money collections in Australia. The court heard that a large portion of the funds was collected after the December 2004 tsunami and that $1.25million was withdrawn from the account in cash. |