Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation

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The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, or T.R.O., is, according ^[1]to the United States government ^[2], a terrorist front organization for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,^[3]^[4] which is on the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations^[5] . The U.S. Department of Treasury stated ^[6] in November 2007 that "T.R.O. passed off its operations as charitable, when in fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism ... in the United States, T.R.O. has raised funds on behalf of the LTTE through a network of individual representatives. According to sources within the organization, T.R.O. is the preferred conduit of funds from the United States to the LTTE in Sri Lanka" ^[7].

The T.R.O. was established in 1985 in Tamil Nadu(South-East India) by Tamil refugees fleeing the violence in North and East Sri Lanka. Its operation to provide relief to the refugees in India continued until 1987. After the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the subsequent fighting between the LTTE and the Indian Peace-Keeping Force, TRO moved its operation and headquarters to Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka. The headquarters moved again to Killinochchi after Jaffna was taken by Government Forces in 1995. TRO has always been seen to be linked to the LTTE as it only operated in LTTE held areas after it left India in 1987. However, after the signing of the CeaseFire Agreement in 2002 between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, TRO was recognised by the Government as a legitimate NGO and was granted NGO status. During the period 2002 to 2005 TRO operated from offices across Sri Lanka in both Government and LTTE controlled areas provided post war and post tsunami relief and rehabilitation to Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities. However, with the growing violence and deterioration of the CFA from 2005, TRO offices and staff began to come under attack, particularly in the East, forcing TRO to move out of Government held areas and to operate only in LTTE controlled areas.

In late 2006 TRO funds in Sri Lankan banks were frozen.

TRO is however closely linked to the LTTE and is has been viewed with scepticism by some Internaional NGOs and governments as financially covertly supporting the armed wing of the LTTE. In 2005 the British Charity Commission removed the TRO’s UK charitable status on the ground that it “had not been able to account satisfactorily for the application of funds”.[1] Inside the LTTE controlled areas in northern Sri Lanka NGOs have to work in tandem with the TRO.

In 2006 activities of the TRO had begun to worry the French Anti-terrorism Directorate investigating the LTTE. On October 1 of 2006, the Swiss police arrested the TRO secretary Vinaygamoorthy on the France-Switzerland border. Mr. Vinaygamoorthy was transporting 18 million euros in cash. Though he claimed that it was TRO funds raised for Tamil refugees, it was established by the French Anti-terrorism Directorate that the money was designated for the LTTE. Mr. Vinayagamoorthy was released and later arrested in a raid in France on April 1 2007 for violating French and EU law by providing material support to a designated terrorist organization.[1]

On November 15 2007, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated the TRO under Executive Order 1322, aimed to financially isolate U.S. designated foreign terrorist groups and their support network. Under this order, the Department of the Treasury froze all assets held by the TRO and its designees in U.S. territories, and formally prohibited U.S. citizens from transacting with the TRO or its members [2] ^[8].