Category: Legal

RATHGAMA, December 23, 2009 (AFP) – Billions of dollars were pledged after the 2004 Asian tsunami to help people like Pradeepa Niroshani who waited in vain for money to rebuild her destroyed home. Five years after the disaster, the government in Sri Lanka is under pressure from a leading anti-corruption group to account for nearly […]

JAKARTA, December 20, 2009 (AFP) – Fifteen of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who spent weeks refusing to get off the boat that rescued them near Indonesia have left the country, a foreign ministry official said Sunday.“They left Indonesia yesterday.Two were flown to Australia and the other 13 were taken to an evacuation centre in […]

SEOUL, December 21, 2009 (AFP) – A planeload of weapons from North Korea seized in Bangkok this month was bound for Iran, a newspaper report said Monday, citing documents obtained by arms trafficking experts.US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair had said last week that the 35-tonne cargo, shipped in defiance of UN sanctions on […]

Dec 20, 2009 (LBO) – Court appointed officials liquidating assets of Golden Key Credit Card Company, a failed finance firm in Sri Lanka’s Ceylinco group, are planning an auction of assets, and offers have been received for the sale of a hospital, a media report said.The Sunday Island newspaper said several offers have been received […]

NEW YORK, December 15, 2009 (AFP) – The founder of Galleon hedge fund, Raj Rajaratnam, was indicted Tuesday in a multi-million-dollar Wall Street insider-trading probe.Billionaire Rajaratnam and co-defendant Danielle Chiesi were indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of using non-public information from company executives to earn about 20 million dollars […]

December 11, 2009 (AFP) – A top United Nations envoy asked Sri Lanka on Friday to release detained Tamil Tiger child soldiers and urged the authorities to re-unite them with their families.The government allowed tens of thousands of civilians held in the IDP camps to go in and out freely from December 1, but aid […]

BANGKOK, December 11, 2009 (AFP) – Thai authorities have arrested five people for producing and smuggling more than 300 fake EU passports and other official European documents, officials said Friday.“He (Fathi) confessed that he had trafficked stolen passports into Thailand more than 20 times,” the statement said. The DSI said Thailand is a known hub […]

December 9, 2009 (AFP) – The United States said Wednesday it was willing to extend more aid to Sri Lanka provided there was progress in political reconciliation and human rights.He commended the government’s efforts to allow war-displaced civilians to leave state-run welfare camps in the north at their own free will and said Sri Lanka […]

Dec 03, 2009 (LBO) – UN officials and human rights groups have praised the decision by the Maldives to decriminalise defamation. Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democracy and good governance. For democracy to be effective, citizens must be able to hold those in power to account without fear of retribution. I commend all […]

Dec 02, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has identified some 600 bank accounts with links to the Tamil Tiger separatists and is trying to seize assets held by the Tigers, a spokesman said. Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Tiger assets and bank accounts were largely held by Kumaran Pathmanadan alias KP, a top […]

PARIS, November 23, 2009 (AFP) – A French court on Monday jailed 21 Tamil Tiger militants convicted of extorting millions of euros from the Tamil diaspora in France to fund their armed campaign in Sri Lanka. The toughest sentence of seven years in was given to Nadaraja Matinthiran, whom the court heard was the leader […]

SYDNEY, November 23, 2009 (AFP) – Australia moved to tighten security at its main immigration centre on Monday after a riot by 150 asylum-seekers, reportedly wielding pool cues, broomsticks and tree branches, left 37 wounded.Immigration Minister Chris Evans said security would be increased to prevent a repeat of Saturday’s mass brawl between Afghan and Sri […]