Account freeze by Sri Lanka violates UN Declaration- TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2007, 10:46 GMT]
Freezing of Bank Accounts of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Colombo for more than one year without any charges being filed, and denying the TRO "day in court" to defend against the "false allegations," are violations of Declaration on the "Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly's Resolution 36/55 of 25 November 1981," said TRO officials in a media release issued Tuesday.

Full text of TRO press release

The media release said the Article 6 of the UN declaration reserved "the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief shall include the right to establish No show by the presiding judge. Case put off to 26 Jan 07 and maintain appropriate charitable or humanitarian institutions."

TRO Sri Lanka: Case Time Line

28 Aug 06: TRO bank accounts “frozen” by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). 4 Sep 06: High Court grants freeze for 6 months without giving TRO opportunity to respond to the petition. TRO not formally notified of freeze 11 Sep 06: TRO counsel Mr. Abdur Rahim requests a copy of documents from Registrar. He is asked to provide authorization letter from TRO 14 Sep 06: Mr. Abdur Rahim submits the TRO authorizing letter and is told that he must file an official “proxy” with the High Court 16 Oct 06: Mr. Gammi Sennanayake submits a proxy to the court to represent TRO and requests a certified copy of all court documents 18 Oct 06: TRO counsel receives a certified copy of the CBSL’s 4 September petition and supporting documentation 16 Nov 06: TRO files a petition in High Court to vacate its order of 4 September 2006. 20 Nov 06: Attorney General raises objections to the High Court’s jurisdiction. Both parties are asked to submit arguments on this “point of law” 29 Nov 06: AG requests additional time to submit further responses to TRO’s extensive written submission 11 Dec 06: AG requests more time to submit written responses. Judge sets 15 December as “final” date for submission 5 Jan 07: CID raids TRO Trincomalee and TRO Vavuniya offices and remove computers, files 6/8 Jan 07: CID raid Colombo TRO office and remove 17 computers, files, account, documents 18 Jan 07: Police deliver “summons” in Sinhala for TRO Executive Director Mr. K.P Reji and two other TRO officials 22 Jan 07: TRO informs court persons named in the summons are either not in Sri Lanka or are not in GoSL controlled areas 26 Jan 07: Judge rules he has no jurisdiction to review, vary or vacate his decision of 4 Sept 2006 and that TRO must seek relief from the Appeals Court 4 Mar 07: 6 month freeze expires. Court grants six month extension to Central Bank's “ex parte” petition 4 Sep 07: One year since freeze of bank accounts. No charges have been filled against TRO or any TRO officials

TRO's bank accounts in Sri Lanka have now been frozen for one year and none of the "investigations" by the Central Bank's Financial Investigation Unit (FIU), the Attorney General's Office and the Police's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has resulted in any charges against the TRO, the release added.

"The frozen accounts contain approximately Rs. 80,000,000 (US$ 707,000; £350,000) and were targeted for Tsunami related projects which would benefit the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities of the NorthEast. Eighty percent (80%) of the funds frozen were project funds provided by international NGOs, UN Agencies (UNICEF, Save the Children, Operation USA, the Nippon Foundation) and the GoSL for projects that TRO is implementing to rehabilitate tsunami and war affected populations.

"The remaining twenty percent (20%) of the funds were donated by the Tamil Diaspora. TRO has thus far implemented over US$ 20 million in tsunami related projects which have benefited all three communities," the release said.

"TRO has met or exceeded local and international standards of accountability and transparency and has consistently met all the legal requirements of an NGO or charity operating in Sri Lanka. Since registering with the GoSL as a Charity in 2002, TRO has responded to all requests for financial and project information from the Ministry of Social Services, the Ministry of Foreign Resources, and the Parliamentary Select Committee on NGOs promptly and exhaustively," the release said, adding that the several petitions filed by TRO's legal team to "vary or vacate" the original judgement [freezing of account] have been rejected.