LTTE operative Emil Kanthan removed from proscribed list

He was discharged from misappropriation of RADA funds case

The government has removed two persons, including one-time high level LTTE operative Emil Kanthan from the list of proscribed persons and organisations.

The government made the announcement through a special gazette notification, dated Oct. 16, 2023, published by Defence Secretary, General (retd.) Kamal Gunaratne

Emil Kanthan was discharged by the Colombo High Court in July 2020 from a high-profile case involving criminal misappropriation of Rs. 124 mn from the government run RADA (Reconstruction and Development Agency).

Along with Emil Kanthan, the Colombo HC discharged the then SLPP National List MP who is the current Public Security Minister, RADA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Saliya Wickramasuriya and its former Finance Manager Jayantha Dias Samarasinghe.

Sources said that the Ministry of Defence had removed the names of two individuals including former LTTE activist Emil Kanthan, who had been blacklisted for their involvement in terrorism-related activities, from the list of designated persons, groups and entities.

As such, the designations of Niklapillai Antony Emil Lakshmi Kanthan alias ‘Ramesh’ and Murugesu Sri Shanmugaraja were lifted.

Emil Kanthan and Shanmugaraja, who hail from Vavuniya and Jaffna, respectively, were officially blacklisted on February 25, 2014.

In 2010, Interpol issued a Red Notice on Emil Kanthan who was the North and Eastern Provinces Financial Head of the now-defunct terror group LTTE. He was also an accused in the case filed against the misappropriation of funds from the Reconstruction & Development Agency (RADA) but was discharged from the case in 2020.

Kanthan even figured in leaked US diplomatic cables that dealt with the connection the then LTTE financier had with various politicians in the run up to the 2005 presidential election. Sources said that no less than the then US Ambassador here Robert O. Blake informed Washington of Kanthan’s activities.