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New TROjan horse TSF in Britain
By Santhush Fernando
The British Charity Commissioner’s ban on the LTTE-front, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), has been circumvented with the birth of another, the Tamil Support Foundation (TSF).

The TSF, registered in January 2005, with “similar objectives” to that of the TRO, and a new trustee body, had been set up to receive the funds of TRO-UK, The Sunday Times learns.

The move came after the TRO (UK branch) transferred all its funds to the TRO (Sri Lanka) after the British Charity Commission probe. The TSF is setting up new branches with the latest being at Harrow in Britain with Hugh Richard Belshaw (OBE), Nigel Scott, Vevehananthan Arumugam and Thambimuththu Selvarathnam as trustees.

The TRO-UK was set up in 1985 and incorporated in 1992 before it was wound up and removed from the UK Central Register of Charities on August 10.
The Commission ruled that it had found “evidence of mismanagement” of charity funds and concluded that TRO property “was at risk”. It was revealed that the TRO “lacked adequate financial controls and transparency particularly in its transfer and application of funds in Sri Lanka.” Its funding of the LTTE too was exposed during the probes.

In response to a query by The Sunday Times the Commission admitted that “a proportion of the funds of TRO-UK did go to the TSF”.
The TRO-UK raised funds and channelled it to the TRO in Sri Lanka for relief and rehabilitation projects.

TRO’s Colombo Director Sebestian Nehru said the TSF was a part of the TRO. A British citizen himself Mr. Nehru said a new international branch had been set up in Harrow last week.

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