Huge money-laundering “pyramid” operation uncovered
Police seek local Tamils who were victims to give evidence
Bern and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ten members of LTTE, the Sri Lankan Tamil independence movement, who are resident in Switzerland were arrested Tuesday 11 January after police in several cantons raided 23 locations across the country. The sweep, coordinated by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s office, is the culmination of investigations that began in 2009 into money laundering operations and extortion of Tamils living in Switzerland.
The 10 have been charged with threatening behaviour, extortion, forgery of a document, money laundering, membership of, and aiding and abetting, a criminal organization. Victims in Switzerland were put under severe pressure, threatened, or subjected to extortion, according to Bern.
Police have set up a special phone line for victims and witnesses:
“who have knowledge of the operating methods of some members of the LTTE or similarly acting organizations. A special toll free phone line 0800 10 20 60 has been established for receiving relevant information. This number must only be used for relevant information in the aforementioned proceedings.”
The federal prosecutor’s office has provided a description of how the group worked, collecting millions of francs that were then used for their personal gain as well as to buy arms for Tamil Tigers, through what Bern calls an effective pyramid scheme in Switzerland:
“The money was obtained through various methods and involving different companies. The accused persons forced their fellow countrymen to borrow excessive amounts of money and to hand over the funds to the LTTE. The loans were mostly taken out based on falsified salary statements and the loan amounts considerably exceeded the actual financial means of the individual borrowers. Those who refused to help with the raising of funds were threatened and faced the prospect of reprisals. The bulk of the money, totalling several million Swiss francs, was transferred to Sri Lanka, primarily with the help of couriers via third states, or in small amounts through bank transactions. To disguise the true origin of the funds, they were invested in companies with connections to the LTTE conducting legal business.”
The raids took place in cantons Graubuenden, Zurich, St Gallen, Lucerne, Solothurn, Bern, Fribourg, Vaud, Geneva and Basel.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World headlines about endless casualties and aid organizations being kept out of Sri Lanka’s conflict area have died away, last week’s news, but the battle to find out what really happened and how many died may be only beginning, media reports 29 May show. Le Temps and Le Monde jointly carry an article by reporter Philippe Bolopion in Colombo that accuses the Sri Lankan government of hiding the real number of deaths and the UN of collusion out of fear that its ability to work in the country would be compromised. In the UK, The Times front-page story Friday 29 May says that 20,000 civilians – three times the official number – were killed.
The Times story is based on photos taken on the beaches in the conflict area, UN documents as well as “witness accounts and expert testimony.” The numbers are in fact the same as those published a day earlier by Le Monde, which also cites UN sources. The photos were taken for The Times. Le Monde refers to satellite images taken by Unosat of the conflict area, which reportedly show shelling damage, possibly after the date when the Sri Lankan government said it had stopped.
In Geneva Wednesday 28 the Human Rights Council, an independent inter-UN organization, rejected a Swiss-European draft resolution to investigate possible war crimes in Sri Lanka and instead adopted a Sri Lankan counter-resolution. Human Rights Watch condemned the UNHRC move, saying it had “passed a deeply flawed resolution on Sri Lanka that ignores calls for an international investigation into alleged abuses during recent fighting and other pressing human rights concerns.”
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) has sharply condemned the suicide attack on a refugee registration centre in Sri Lanka 9 February that reportedly killed 10 people and injured some 40. The lead humanitarian aid organization for the conflict area said 10 February that it is “outraged by the unnecessary loss of hundreds of lives and the continued suffering of innocent civilians” inside the area in Sri Lanka controlled by the Tamil Tigers.
