U.S. Government Cracks Down on Sri Lankan Charity

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said on Thursday that it has taken steps to crack down on a Sri Lankan charity it accuses of supporting terrorism.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that the group, Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, funneled donations and purchased equipment on behalf of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The organization used charitable donations made after the 2004 Asian tsunamis, as well as other donations, to bolster the military capacity of the Liberation Tigers, the Treasury Department said.

“TRO passed off its operations as charitable, when it fact it was raising money for a designated terrorist group responsible for heinous acts of terrorism,” said Adam J. Szubin, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a press release.

The Liberation Tigers have waged a separatist campaign against the Sri Lankan government since the 1970s. The U.S. government first recognized the group as a terrorist movement in 1997.

As part of its crackdown, the U.S. government will freeze the charity’s assets in the United States and bar donors from contributing to it. The 22-year-old charity has offices in 18 countries, including one in Cumberland, Md.

Attempts to contact the charity’s officials in the United States failed because the organization’s phone number had been disconnected and e-mails messages were returned.