Chiefs to testify against Tamils

SRI Lanka's most senior military figures will give evidence against three Melbourne Tamils accused of raising money in Australia to fund a terrorism campaign in their homeland.

The trio - Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugam Rajeevan - have been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court next year. They have pleaded not guilty.

The men, who were accused of being members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam group, entered their pleas last week after about six weeks of sporadic hearings, which began in September in Melbourne Magistrates Court.

They faced charges of being members of a terrorist organisation between July 1, 2004, and their arrest this year, providing resources to a terrorist organisation between July 6, 2002, and 2007, and making available an asset to a proscribed entity.

Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan have also pleaded not guilty to intentionally providing support or resources to a terrorist organisation. Mr Vinayagamoorthy pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of making available an asset, namely boat design software and radio transmitters, to a proscribed entity.

Maximum penalties for the charges range between five and 25 years' imprisonment.

Central to the Australian Federal Police case against the men is the accusation that they collectively raised $1.9 million in charitable donations from the Australian Tamil diaspora, most of it collected after the 2004 tsunami.

The AFP alleged the men channelled the funds to Sri Lanka, via Malaysia, and using international money transfers in denominations too small to raise a red flag through the AUSTRAC reporting system.

The committal hearing was told that Mr Vinayagamoorthy was overheard discussing "the movement" and saying: "As for me, I have carried arms. I don't have any worry about anything. I will do anything, whatever the movement asks me. I will do them all."

The court heard that police seized photographs of Mr Rajeevan meeting with the head of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and raising the LTTE flag.

The committal hearing heard evidence from the head of the Sri Lankan army, Gardhihewa Sarath Chandralal Fonseka, and the Asian nation's naval chief, Wasantha Karannagoda.

Both men were subject to extensive cross-examination by defence lawyers who alleged Sri Lankan authorities committed extrajudicial killings, torture and gross human rights abuses against the Tamil population.

The case has proceeded despite the LTTE not having been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Australian authorities. Whether the LTTE is a terrorist organisation, or a separatist group engaged in a civil war, will be central to whether a jury finds the men guilty of the charges. Mr Rajeevan, Mr Vinayagamoorthy and Mr Yathavan are on bail.