SRI LANKA: RUMORS ABOUND ABOUT KARUNA'S

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001408

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS
MCC FOR D NASSIRY AND E BURKE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM MOPS CE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: RUMORS ABOUND ABOUT KARUNA'S
WHEREABOUTS

REF: COLOMBO 709

Classified By: Ambassador Robert O Blake, for reasons 1.4(b,d).


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: On October 8, the Hindustan Times
reported that pro-government paramilitary Tamil Makkal
Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) military commander Chandrakanthan,
more commonly known as Pillaiyan, ousted the group's founder
Karuna Amman from the party's Executive Committee over
"financial irregularities." Quoting TMVP Spokesman Asad
Mowlana, the Times asserted that Karuna had fled to the UK
using a false Sri Lankan passport and a British visa obtained
with the help of the GSL. On October 10, the Daily Mirror
published an article quoting TMVP Batticaloa Political
Chairman T. Thileepan as denying a split in the Karuna group,
but acknowledging that Karuna was "overseas on official
matters." Sources from the TMVP's heartland of Batticaloa
have told us that the split in the TMVP is "political
theater" designed to rehabilitate the image of the group in
time for elections in the East before the end of the year.
Other sources in London told us that Karuna met with a
prominent asylum attorney, and likely would not return to Sri
Lanka. Others are less certain. Our contacts assert that
Karuna has amassed millions of dollars from
abductions-for-ransom, extortion and other criminal
enterprises, and that he has been compelled to share these
with the Sri Lankan officials who helped him leave. Defense
Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa has publicly confirmed that

SIPDIS
Karuna was "abroad." In September, Gothabaya Rajapaksa
approached us seeking help in persuading the British to give
Karuna a visa. British High Commission diplomats have
assured us that they have not issued a visa to Karuna, saying
that the British government would probably move quickly to
deport him if he were in the UK. END SUMMARY.

ALLEGATIONS OF A SPLIT IN THE TMVP
--------------


2. (SBU) On October 8, the Hindustan Times reported that
TMVP political leader Karuna Amman, rarely referred to by his
legal name Vinayakamoorthy Muralitharan, was expelled from
the 27-member TMVP Executive Committee at the direction of
TMVP military commander Pillaiyan because of "financial
irregularities." Two days later, TMVP Batticaloa Political
Chairman T. Thileepan publicly denied a split in the Karuna
group, questioning how such baseless rumors can get started.
(The Hindustan article quoted extensively from TMVP Spokesman
Asad Mowlana, who has been silent since the article was
published.) Thileepan asserted that Karuna remained the
TMVP's national political leader while Pillaiyan continued as
the group's military commander. Thileepan asserted that
Karuna was overseas on official business, but did not
identify Karuna's location.


3. (S) An Embassy contact, a prominent Batticaloa
journalist with reliable sources within the TMVP, told us
that rumors of a split between Karuna and Pillaiyan are
half-truths, designed to be "good political theater" directed
at the international community. According to our contact,
the GSL initially orchestrated the rumor of a split in July
and spread stories that Pillaiyan was responsible for human
rights abuses within the Karuna group (reftel). The GSL was
hoping to extricate Karuna from the taint of human rights
abuses, enabling him to contest anticipated elections in the
East before the end of the year. The charade even involved
sending two high-level TMVP officials to meet with Poloff
seeking asylum because of fear that Pillaiyan would kill them
(reftel). However, the international community refused to
accept the "rehabilitated" Karuna. Further, Karuna ran afoul
of the GSL when he criticized the government for allowing
"Jaffna Tamils" from the paramilitaries TULF, PLOTE and EPRLF

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to unite as a possible political rival to the TMVP in the
East.


4. (S) According to the Batticaloa journalist, when it
became clear that Karuna could not be rehabilitated ,and that
Karuna was not as pliable as previously believed, the GSL
reversed strategy, deciding to remove Karuna while allowing
the more easily controlled Pillaiyan to stay in Sri Lanka.
This strategy was especially appealing because other Tamil
paramilitaries less stigmatized by the international
community than the Karuna group had united under a
pro-government umbrella to contest elections in the East.
Our source emphasized that there was no Karuna/Pillaiyan
split because of financial irregularities. Instead, it was
orchestrated to continue using the TMVP as an armed
paramilitary group capable of fighting the LTTE, while
providing "plausible deniability" to the GSL on human rights
abuses. According to the journalist, the GSL specifically
wanted to remove Karuna before the current visit of U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

ALLEGATIONS OF PASSPORT AND VISA FRAUD
--------------


5. (S) The Hindustan Times alleged in its October 8 article
that the GSL helped Karuna obtain a Sri Lankan passport using
a false Sinhalese name, Gunawardene, in order to secure a
British visa. According to this version, Airport Aviation
Director Wijesundera helped arrange Karuna's departure.
However, other Embassy contacts suggested that Karuna did not
use a false passport, but instead used his little-known legal
name, Vinayakamoorthy Muralitharan. British High Commission
officers have told us that they do not believe that Karuna
has entered the UK. Despite this, Embassy contacts have
reported that Karuna met last week in London with a prominent
Tamil asylum attorney named Sivakumaran, also known as
Raghavan. According to Embassy contacts, Sivakumaran's wife
Nirmala Nithyanandan, formerly associated with the LTTE, knew
Karuna before his split from the Tigers in 2004. However,
Embassy sources believe that Karuna was introduced to
Sivakumaran by former EPDP spokesman S. Thavarajah, who fled
Sri Lanka in July 2007 after helping two LTTE cadres escape
arrest by the GSL.


6. (S/NF) Approximately one month ago, Defense Secretary
Gothabaya Rajapaksa approached Ambassador seeking our
intervention to obtain a British visa for Karuna, so he can
join his family who reportedly live in the UK. UK High
Commission colleagues have repeatedly told us, however, that
they are not interested in helping Karuna reach the UK, have
not issued him a visa, and that HMG would likely seek to
deport Karuna promptly if he managed to reach British shores.


ALLEGATIONS OF FINANCIAL PAYOFFS
--------------


7. (S) Embassy contacts allege that Karuna has amassed at
least several million dollars since 2004 from abductions,
extortion and other criminal enterprises. Our Batticaloa
contact asserted that the GSL agreed to allow Karuna to leave
Sri Lanka permanently to join his family, who reportedly have
been in the UK for several months. Despite the GSL's public
denials of any association with the Karuna group, Gothabaya
Rajapaksa has publicly confirmed that Karuna is "abroad," but
did not specify Karuna's current location.


8. (S) COMMENT: The rampant rumors about Karuna aside, we
actually know very little. It seems reasonable to conclude
at this point that Karuna is not in Sri Lanka. He has
certainly amassed significant wealth through criminal

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enterprises. If Karuna departed Sri Lanka with GSL
facilitation, it is more than likely that that he shared some
of his ill-gotten gains with the officials who helped him
leave. If Karuna is in the UK, it is unclear whether the
British mistakenly issued a visa to Karuna under his
lesser-known legal name, or whether the GSL provided Karuna
with a false identity to secure a British visa. Whether
Karuna intends to return after conducting his "official
business" is not clear, much less the future role that he or
the GSL envision for himself in Eastern politics. One well
informed Minister told us the Government continues to plan an
on-going role for Karuna in the East in the hopes that the
TMVP can contest future elections and provide an alternative
to the Tamil National Alliance, which is closer to the LTTE
and vigorously opposed to many GSL policies.
BLAKE