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ITN Sinhala NEWS 2008 - 11- 19

Courtesy : Independent Television Network Ltd

40,000 houses to be constructed by RADA

The “Reconstruction And Development Agency” (RADA) has undertaken a project to construct 40,000 houses, said Chief Government Whip, Minister Dinesh Gunewardena in Parliament yesterday (18).

The Government had allocated Rs. 3200 million in the 2006 Budget and Rs.1900 million in the 2007 Budget for the development activities carried out by the RADA and other affiliated bodies of the Government, the Minister disclosed.

Meanwhile funds have been issued for separate other development projects, reserving Rs. 50 million for RADA, another Rs.1000 for “Jayalanka” projects.

Apart from these allocations Rs. 850 will be spent on infrastructure development activities, the minister added.

The funds are granted through President’s fund established for’Disaster Relief Services’.

Central Bank forfeits Rs. 71 million from TRO accounts

The Central Bank has taken steps to seize the funds held by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), widely known as a fund-raising arm of the LTTE and banned for this reason in several countries.

The Bank said a sum of 71 million rupees of TRO money has been thus forfeited by the state.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has commenced special inquiries on another twenty illegal financial institutes currently running in the country.

The Sri Lankan froze the assets of TRO in August 2006 under the Financial Transactions Reporting Act and the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing Act.

The government charged that the money received by TRO from various donors for “humanitarian projects” were, according to intelligence reports, mainly used to finance terrorist activities.

The Central Bank warns the general public not to get involved in any kind of financial donations or transactions with this organization.

Investigations are in progress to trace and forfeit any further funds and assets belonging to the TRO.

Any involvement including any financial connection with a proscribed organization is a criminal offence, the Central Bank announced.

The United States Department of the Treasury designated the TRO as a terror supporting network in November 2007 and froze all assets held by the TRO and its designees in U.S. territories, and formally prohibited U.S. citizens from transacting with the TRO or its members.

In 2005 the British Charity Commission revoked the TRO’s “charitable status” saying that it wasn’t able to satisfactorily account for the application of its funds.

Meanwhile the Central Bank attending to the regular complaints lodged by the public regarding bogus financial institutions has commenced special inquiries on another twenty illegal financial outfits currently operating in the country.

A special team has been appointed by the Bank to investigate the complaints.

Meanwhile the Central Bank had suspended activities of another fraudulent financial company few days ago, the 28th such outfit banned within the last two months following the Sakwithi Ranasinghe scam, reports said.

French travel agents on a treasure hunt in Sri Lanka

On his 63rd birthday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa accompanied by the first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa visited the temple of the Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa).

An all night pirith pinkama followed by a sangika dana was held at President’s House, Kandy to mark the dual occasions of the President’s birthday and his completion of three years as Executive President

Members of the Hindu, Christian and Muslim clergy also called on the President at the President’s House, Kandy yesterday morning and invoked blessings on him.

The sanga while invoking the blessings of the Triple gem on the President commended for his efforts on wiping out terrorism from the motherland.

Courtesy: Lankapuvath

Prabakaran is in good health - Nadesan

LTTE political chief B. Nadesan says Tiger chief Vellupillai Prabakaran is in good health and leading the current war. In an interview with The Week magazine published in India the top LTTE official also insists that the Tigers are far from being defeated.

Courtesy: Dailymirror