By Colombo Telegraph –

Tiran

“Pol Chief met family members of Tiran Alles on June .Alles’ parents are well-known and respected educators who have founded several schools in Sri Lanka, and who have educated many of Sri Lanka’s elite. Most recently, one of their schools had been providing free after-school tutoring to President Rajapaksa’s youngest son to help him pass his university entrance exams. This relationship had persisted until late May, they told us.” the US Embassy informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database which details the secret agreement with the Tamil Tigers to suppress Tamil votes in the 2005 Presidential election. The cable was written on June 14, 2007 by the US Ambassador to Colombo, Robert O. Blake.

Under the subheading “ALLES’ FAMILY DISTRAUGHT OVER HIS ARREST” Blake wrote “The family was bitter about the Rajapaksa’s ingratitude. They pointed out there is little doubt that the arrest of Alles was politically motivated. The investigation of Alles started when former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera began making allegations about a secret deal between Basil Rajapaksa and the Tigers. The investigation stopped while efforts to engineer a rapprochement between Samaraweera and the Rajapaksas continued, and began again just one day after those talks finally broke down. The Alles family had been opposed from the beginning to Tiran’s getting involved in politics, which they considered a dirty and dangerous business. However, they never imagined he would find himself in such serious difficulties. They said Alles’ medical condition was stress-related and serious. Alles’ parents told us that Alles had been trying to downplay the story, hoping to avoid it becoming a cause celebre ) and perhaps hoping to avoid what happened to Sooriyarachchi.”

Related news to this cable; WikiLeaks: Ranil Has Called For The Arrest Of Basil, Lalith And P.B.

                                                       WikiLeaks: Tiran Filmed “LTTE-Rajapaksa” Deal

Below we give the relevant part of the confidential cable;

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OO RUEHBI RUEHLMC
DE RUEHLM #0844/01 1651036
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FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6253
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0458
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RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7176
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RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2988
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RUEHON/AMCONSUL TORONTO PRIORITY 0247
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2119
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000844 

SIPDIS 

SIPDIS 

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS
MCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE 

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER PHUM MOPS CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: OPPOSITION LEADER CALLS FOR ARREST OF
PRESIDENT'S BROTHER, CHIEF OF STAFF, AND TREASURY SECRETARY 

REF: A. COLOMBO 788
     ¶B. 2006 COLOMBO 1622
     ¶C. COLOMBO 824 

Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). 

¶1.  (S) SUMMARY:  United National Party (UNP) Opposition
leader Ranil Wickremesinghe,  citing the same grounds used by
the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) to arrest Tiran
Alles (ref A), has called for the arrest of the President's
brother Basil Rajapaksa and other members of the President's
inner circle.  Alles has documented his own involvement and
the involvement of Basil and others in a secret agreement
with the Tamil Tigers to suppress Tamil votes in the 2005
Presidential election.  Alles reportedly placed a sworn
affidavit and a video disk of at least one secret meeting
with the Tigers in a secure location for his attorney's
possible use in his legal defense.  On June 13, Alles was
released on bail, but while he was in court for his hearing,
his house was reportedly ransacked and the video disk stolen.
 Two recent Supreme Court decisions have also opened the door
for Alles' defense attorney to move to unfreeze his bank
accounts and gain compensation for the cancellation of his
license to sell mobile phone services in Sri Lanka's
Northeast.  END SUMMARY. 

RANIL CALLS FOR BASIL'S ARREST
------------------------------ 

¶2.  (SBU) Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told his
United National Party parliamentary group that the
President's brother and advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Presidential
Chief of Staff Lalith Weeratunga, and Treasury Secretary P.B.
Jayasundera were implicated in the alleged pre-election deal
with the Tamil Tigers to assure Mahinda Rajapaksa's election.
 They should therefore also be arrested, just as former
Airport Authority Chairman Tiran Alles was.  Alles' sworn
statement to the Terrorism Investigation Division reportedly
accuses all three of having engineered a multi-million dollar
payoff to the Tigers.  Until June 13, Alles was held under
arrest in National Hospital, where he was receiving treatment
(ref A). 

¶3.  (S) A UNP source told Pol Chief that Tiran Alles had
executed an affidavit detailing Basil Rajapaksa, Jayasundera
and Weeratunga's involvement in the arrangements with Emil
Kanthan, a prominent Tamil businessman and suspected LTTE
intelligence officer, some time ago.  Alles has deposited the
original in a secure place accessible to his attorney.
Further, Alles had recorded at least one of the meetings
between Kanthan and Rajapaksa's election team (Basil
Rajapaksa, Jayasundera and Weeratunga ) with his mobile
phone's video camera.  (Note: at least one of the meetings
reportedly took place in Alles' office.)  According to the
source, Alles also kept a copy of the video in a secure
location.  Several Embassy contacts report having seen at
least parts of the video. 

¶4.  (SBU)  On June 13, Alles was released on one million
rupees bail (roughly 90,000 U.S. dollars) under stringent
conditions that include a weekly check-in with the TID.
While Alles and his family members were in court for his bail
hearing, his house was reportedly ransacked.  The burglars
seemed to pay special attention to Alles' home office.
Alles' close friend, former Port Development Minister
Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, was quoted in the Daily Mirror
alleging that the video disk was taken.  In addition to the
video, Alles stated that one million rupees was taken from
his house.  Despite this, Sooriyarachchi added that Alles has
"important things to disclose, which will be done in the near
future," implying that Alles may have other copies of the 

COLOMBO 00000844  002 OF 003 

video. 

ALLES' FAMILY DISTRAUGHT OVER HIS ARREST
---------------------------------------- 

¶5.  (S) Pol Chief met family members of Tiran Alles on June
¶4.  Alles' parents are well-known and respected educators who
have founded several schools in Sri Lanka, and who have
educated many of Sri Lanka's elite.  Most recently, one of
their schools had been providing free after-school tutoring
to President Rajapaksa's youngest son to help him pass his
university entrance exams.  This relationship had persisted
until late May, they told us.  The family was bitter about
the Rajapaksa's ingratitude.  They pointed out there is
little doubt that the arrest of Alles was politically
motivated.  The investigation of Alles started when former
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera began making allegations
about a secret deal between Basil Rajapaksa and the Tigers.
The investigation stopped while efforts to engineer a
rapprochement between Samaraweera and the Rajapaksas
continued, and began again just one day after those talks
finally broke down.  The Alles family had been opposed from
the beginning to Tiran's getting involved in politics, which
they considered a dirty and dangerous business.  However,
they never imagined he would find himself in such serious
difficulties.  They said Alles' medical condition was
stress-related and serious.  Alles' parents told us that
Alles had been trying to downplay the story, hoping to avoid
it becoming a cause celebre ) and perhaps hoping to avoid
what happened to Sooriyarachchi.

BLAKE