THREE AUSSIE MEN ADMIT FUNDING TAMIL TIGERS

MELBOURNE, Dec 24 (Bernama) -- Three men from Australia's Sri Lankan
community have pleaded guilty to providing money to the Tamil Tigers, SBS News
reported.

Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 35, Sivarajah Yathavan, 38, both of Melbourne, and
43-year-old Arumugam Rajeevan, of New South Wales, will be sentenced on Feb 2.

The three men appeared at the Victorian Supreme Court via video link from
Sydney, and all pleaded guilty to committing an offence against the United
Nations Charter Act.

The charge relates to providing money to the Tamil Tigers, which the United
Nations considers a terrorist organisation.

Vinayagamoorthy, a courier, also pleaded guilty to an additional charge of
providing the Sri Lankan separatist group with electrical components.

The men were arrested in May 2007 and charged with the offences, which
occurred between Dec 2002 and March 2006.

The Tamil Tigers, which had been waging a war for an independent homeland in
the north of the country since 1976, were defeated by the Sri Lankan military
in May this year.

The three men have been released on bail and according, to Australian
federal police, are unlikely to receive a custodial sentence.

-- BERNAMA