COLOMBO: The expected surrender of the LTTE’s Financial Controller, Emil Kanthan, to the Sri Lankan police will add to former President Mahinda Rajapksa’s cup of woes.
After tearfully seeing off his second son Yoshitha being taken to the remand prison on money laundering charges late last week, Rajapaksa is now faced with the return of an LTTE operative who, for payment, had helped him secure the Tamils’ boycott of the 2005 Presidential election.
The Colombo Special High Court, which had earlier issued a warrant of arrest and a Red Notice against Kanthan for his questionable politico-financial dealings with Rajapaksa in 2005 and 2006, withdrew the orders on Monday after his lawyers assured that he would be surrendering soon.
Rajapaksa’s erstwhile colleagues and opponents have charged that in the run up to the 2005 Presidential election, he had struck a deal with the LTTE by which for the payment of a LKR 180 million, the militant organization would ensure that the Tamils did not vote in the election so that Rajapaksa’s rival, Ranil Wickremesinghe, of the United National Party (UNP) would lose.
The Tamils were rearing to vote for “dove’ Wickremesinghe against “hawk” Rajapaksa. If they were allowed to vote, Wickremesinghe would have won easily. The Tamils had no option when the LTTE ordered a boycott, and Rajapaksa won.
On September 24, 2007, The Sunday Leader said that Rajapaksa had also awarded contracts to Emil Kanthan’s companies to build 800 housing units in the Tamil-speaking North and East at a cost of LKR 757 million. According to the weekly, the companies were bogus. The money was routed through a government development agency.
On Jan 24, 2010, Tiran Alles, the National Organizer of the breakaway group of Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP Mahajana Wing), told the media that Rajapaksa’s brother, Basil Rajapaksa, had personally handed over LKR 180 million to Emil Kanthan, to bring about a boycott. Alles had put the Rajapaksas in touch with Kanthan who was also a businessman.
After the defeat of Rajapaksa in the January 8, 2015 Presidential election, the Jathika Hela Urumaya lodged a complaint with the police on the payment of money to the LTTE to secure an election boycott.
