British charity finds misuse of funds

Colombo: Britain's Charity Commission the state body monitoring charities has expressed concern that the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) had consulted the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in determining allocations of funds.

The Charity Commission spokesperson Sarah Jones said investigations had revealed that the TRO in Sri Lanka might have liaised with the LTTE in allocating funds.

She said the commission had made its finding after some of its accountants probed the work of the TRO in Sri Lanka and in Britain, tracing specific transactions, The Sunday Times in Colombo reported.

A report on the findings states that in September 2000, the commission received complaints that the TRO in Britain was supporting terrorist activity by transferring funds to Sri Lanka in support of the LTTE, which is proscribed in Britain under its Terrorism Act of 2000.

Since the TRO's transactions were questionable, the Charity Commission had directed the banks that any transfer of funds from the TRO accounts must have the prior approval of the commission.

The report states that the "Commission found evidence of mismanagement" of funds. It was established that the TRO's financial controls were inadequate and that there was a lack of transparency in its operations.

The trustees of the TRO exercised little or no control over the use of funds in Sri Lanka and failed to demonstrate a clear audit relating to expenditure.

The TRO also failed to provide the Commission with any explanation regarding some of the funds received from the US and Canada, the report says.