Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Cambodian police probe foundation allegedly with ties to Tamil

Peaople's Daily Online
March 10, 2009

National police of Cambodia have opened an investigation into whether a U.S.-based charity allegedly with ties to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers ever operated in the kingdom, national media said on Tuesday.

The probe was conducted following sanction against the group by the U.S. Treasury Department, said English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post.

"We are looking into the case" of the Tamil Foundation," national police spokesman Keat Chantarith told the paper.

On Feb. 26, the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation sent a letter to Interior Minister Sar Kheng, requesting him to investigate the actions of the foundation which allegedly supported the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The foreign ministry sent the letter after receiving a diplomatic notice from the U.S. Embassy warning of the existence of the U.S.-based Tamil Foundation.

In July 2007, international security magazine the Jane's Intelligence Review reported that Cambodia was a significant source of weapons for the Tamil Tigers, but failed to mention its sources.

The Cambodian government denied it at the time, saying that Cambodia had destroyed many of its surplus arms and that the report referred to the situation before 1998.

Source:Xinhua

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