By Colombo Telegraph –
“Basil Rajapaksa conceded to Ambassador (ref B) that the pre-election contacts with the LTTE had taken place. It is not yet established that money changed hands in these meetings or what Kanthan may have done subsequently with the funds.” the US Embassy informed Washington.
Namal Rajapaksa with Emil Kanthan (Center)
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.
The ambassador wrote “However, the sensitivity of the Rajapaksas to the allegations is understandable. It is a historical fact that threats by the Tamil Tigers suppressed the Tamil vote not just in the areas they control, but in all districts of the Northeast. Even the suggestion of a deal with the Tigers is anathema to many of the president’s supporters, especially the JVP, parts of which have begun to distance themselves from the Rajapaksas (ref C). It still seems unlikely to us that the GSL can successfully prosecute Alles; the collateral damage to Basil and the other figures in the case would be enormous. Already, the heavy-handed efforts to neutralize Alles, former Foreign Minister Samaraweera and his understudy, Sooriyarachchi, have come at a high political cost and undermined the stability of the government. Alles’ release on bail may be a sign that the parties are again trying to settle their differences. If the new attempt is successful, the story will likely disappear. That said, he is hardly in the clear. Under the emergency regulations passed in December 2006, Alles could be detained again and held on suspicion by successive detention orders.”
Related news to this cable;
WikiLeaks: Tiran Filmed “LTTE-Rajapaksa” Deal
WikiLeaks: Alles’ Had Been Providing Free After-School Tutoring To Rajapaksa’s Youngest Son
WikiLeaks: Ranil Has Called For The Arrest Of Basil, Lalith And P.B.
WikiLeaks: Financial Intelligence Unit Was Forced To Sign The Order Of Freezing Alles’ Accounts
Read the cable below for further details;
VZCZCXRO5025 OO RUEHBI RUEHLMC DE RUEHLM #0844/01 1651036 ZNY SSSSS ZZH O 141036Z JUN 07 FM AMEMBASSY COLOMBO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6253 INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 0458 RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 0195 RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 7176 RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 5283 RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 3831 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1081 RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 3902 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 2988 RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 7762 RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 5422 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. ¶6. (SBU) Tiran Alles' attorney has, in the meantime, racked up some initial victories in his fight for vindication of his client. A three-judge panel of the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense Ministry had no legal authority to order suspension of the license of one of Alles' several companies to market mobile phone service in Sri Lanka's northeast. (Note: it was in the course of these legal transactions that Alles originally met Emil Kanthan.) A separate Supreme Court panel also allowed another case filed on behalf of Alles to proceed. This suit would lift the freeze on accounts that the Central Banks' Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) had imposed at the direction of the Defense Ministry. The judges noted that no provision of the Emergency Regulations gave the Defense Secretary authority to order the accounts frozen. COMMENT ------- ¶7. (S) A confidential source within the FIU told us the government was apparently using the FIU to harass and intimidate Alles. The former head of the FIU had declined to sign the order freezing Alles' accounts, saying there was no legal basis for doing so. He relented, under intense pressure from Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal, and signed the orders just days before his own resignation. ¶8. (C) Basil Rajapaksa conceded to Ambassador (ref B) that the pre-election contacts with the LTTE had taken place. It is not yet established that money changed hands in these meetings or what Kanthan may have done subsequently with the funds. However, the sensitivity of the Rajapaksas to the allegations is understandable. It is a historical fact that threats by the Tamil Tigers suppressed the Tamil vote not just in the areas they control, but in all districts of the Northeast. Even the suggestion of a deal with the Tigers is anathema to many of the president's supporters, especially the JVP, parts of which have begun to distance themselves from the Rajapaksas (ref C). It still seems unlikely to us that the GSL can successfully prosecute Alles; the collateral damage to Basil and the other figures in the case would be COLOMBO 00000844 003 OF 003 enormous. Already, the heavy-handed efforts to neutralize Alles, former Foreign Minister Samaraweera and his understudy, Sooriyarachchi, have come at a high political cost and undermined the stability of the government. Alles' release on bail may be a sign that the parties are again trying to settle their differences. If the new attempt is successful, the story will likely disappear. That said, he is hardly in the clear. Under the emergency regulations passed in December 2006, Alles could be detained again and held on suspicion by successive detention orders. End comment. BLAKE
randy Mathew / April 7, 2012
The Rajapakses are so keen to develop SL that that they had to bribe the Tiger Terrorists. Frankly they are developing SL so fast that they have become poor. he he he he he he
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Gowrie / April 7, 2012
These brothers are The face of the true terrorism. If LTTE were terrorists what do we call those who make deals with them, huh? In order to win the election This shameless unscrupulous sordid stooge brigade of the Rajapakse genocidal regime said three years ago they wiped out LTTE and this human smuggling propagandist Gotapaya said “there will be no revival of Tigers for three generations”. Now, this bunch of liars have no means of running the country are trying to keep the starving Sinhalese distracted by “scaremongering” tactics of existence of tigers. This genocidal regime has been killing Tamils in many different ways after so called “end of the war”. Now scores of Tamils(EPDP)are to be killed and the blame will be put on the “ghost” tigers. This is in their agenda anyway..
Rajapakshe “boot licking” human butchers KP,KARUNA, DOUGLAS AND PILLAIYAN, watch out when you are wanted no more, you will be killed too and the blame will be put on each other. Those live by sword, be killed by sword..
Killing Tamils is what keep this government going and when Tamils are wiped out completely, GoSL will turn its attention to the Sinhalese who oppose them. Sinhalese should wake up to the fact before its too late.
Sinhalese let me get this point across to you that yesterday it was the Tamils, tomorrow it will be YOU, since this is what Totalitarian regimes do– wipe out all who hold an opposing point of view or protest at, the rising cost of living, as is already happening in Sri Lanka.Wakey! Wakey!
GoSL claimed they have wiped out tigers but according to GoSL tigers are back. They claimed they killed PIRABHAKARAN. Just as tigers are back PIRABHAKARAN will soon be back alive too. Watch out Genocidal Rajapakshe bros!
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Pimpykaran is dead ha ha ha / April 7, 2012
Gowri- You must be surely smoking some good weed…Where did you get it? ha ha ha…Crying sad song about a dead pig will not bring him to life…nor his fake promises
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junta / April 7, 2012
Robeert OBlakey is true fantasist….however…
“the rising cost of living, as is already happening in Sri Lanka.Wakey! Wakey!
GoSL claimed they have wiped out tigers but according to GoSL tigers are back. They claimed they killed PIRABHAKARAN. Just as tigers are back PIRABHAKARAN will soon be back alive too. Watch out Genocidal Rajapakshe bros!”
LMAOFFFFFF!
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Piranha / April 7, 2012
This is a well known fact but do the sinhala masses know this? I doubt it. They think Rajapaksa is whiter than white but he is in fact a charlatan, thief and mass murderer.
One of the biggest mistakes Prabhakaran made was to help Rajapaksa come to power. Now the sinhala people are making one of the biggest mistakes by allowing Rajapaksa to stay in power.A national uprising is the only weapon the people have to depose the nasty Rajapaksa regime.
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Ruwan Ferdinandez / April 7, 2012
Sinhala people may know this story but does it matter. Because rajapakse came to power, we don;t have to live in fear any more, we don;t ahve to talk about the LTTE anymore. In other words, did the money Rajapakse’s passed to LTTE, if did,worth it for the LTTE? Were their butts not kicked and smashed by the Rajapakses? lol. Of course it was Prabhakarana’s stupidity. Had he helped Wickremasinghe win, he would most probably be the president of a new born country today.
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gamini / April 8, 2012
VP was under orders from the Americans to support MR at the election, not that he voluntarily helped MR to be the President.
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Observer / April 7, 2012
Alles has a tape showing Basil Rajapakse meeting with Emil Kanthan. Emil Kanthan was the proxy for the LTTE. It was through Emil Kanthan that Mahinda Rajapakse transferred money to the LTTE. If Alles is harmed, then the tape will definitely surface.
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NAK / April 8, 2012
He is keeping it to hand over to St.Peter at the gate thinking that he will get to go thatway. In the alternate he can hand it to Mr.Yaman.
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NAK / April 8, 2012
This cock and bull story came after the presidential elections 2005. Who would be naive enough to pay prabakaran and expect him to keep his word? especially in matter as important as that.The real reason the Tamils were not allowed to vote during that election was the supreme court directive establish all the voting centres one Km away from from the front line.Prabhakaran could’nt trust his people to vote and return for one and to let them vote without their supervion.The only person to vote voted for mahinda and that got his hand cut.The people in the east voted for Ranil in large numbers,prabha could’nt enforce his decree in the east.
even if this story is true every cent paid to VP is fully worth for the outcome it brought.
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gamini / April 8, 2012
The twenty or twentyone victories of MR is hollow. Let them win any number of times and RW lose. One day very soon, there will be one victory for RW and the public of this country which will surpass all these fraudulent victories. Have patience.
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K. C. John / April 9, 2012
Yes, then we’ll have an intelligent person with no designs on dynastic
perpetuation, heading the country.
Too many times have Sri Lankan voters been swayed by bombastic speeches and crude drama.
11 years of Chandrikan disaster followed by the equally disastrous Chinthanaya, has brought this country to where it is today.
Mervin Silva, Duminda Silva, White Vans, Cabraal, Rs.7,500 Bandula,etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Yes, I am grateful that the LTTE was annihilated, but it was a team effort and the person who suffered injuries to almost the point of death, is in a prison cell.What sort of victory is that?
Yes, Gamini, all MR’s victories are hollow.
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