By Colombo Telegraph –

 “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.” the US Embassy informed Washington.

The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked “SECRET” 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.

Ambassador Blake wrote “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.”

Related news to this cable;

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: Tiran Filmed “LTTE-Rajapaksa” Deal

Below we give the relevant part of the confidential cable;

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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.

BLAKE