'Ironically with his worldwide supporters, he could not keep his American attorney on his side! These proscribed Tamil organizations he referred to are Tiger supporters too just like Mr Gnanakone’s Tamils for Justice.'
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Sri Lanka Guardian Special Report
(July 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Last week Sri Lanka Guardian contacted the head and founder of Tamils for Justice Mr Jayantha Gnanakone, to have his attorney answer some questions in view of widespread concerns about the formation of Justice for Thamils and the still unaccounted large sums of funds collected in Toronto, 95% of which it was reported was in cash.
But Mr Gnanakone was not helpful. He even claimed the issue was too complex for us to understand and that The Toronto Star was doing a full investigation into “the developing scandal” about which we were convinced and had already reported on this parlous state of affairs days ago. This observation is quite interesting and has a White Sahib mentality about it.
In respect of the attorney he had retained, he said: “You have to comprehend that I cannot force a clever attorney like Bruce Fein to answer your questions” and virtually retorted that he was too busy since our contact person was not the only “little journalist” he has to answer. He added: “I am busy with attorneys, FBI, Congressmen, State Department and all our supporters worldwide, as well as maintaining our website, and dealing with those proscribed Tamil organizations and Bruce Fein himself.’
Ironically with his worldwide supporters, he could not keep his American attorney on his side! These proscribed Tamil organizations he referred to are Tiger supporters too just like Mr Gnanakone’s Tamils for Justice.
Mr Gnanakone who retained Bruce Fein for his own Tamils for Justice said categorically that Bruce Fein has resigned from Tamils for Justice and has “joined the fraudulent organization called Justice for Thamils started by various nefarious people belonging to the Tamil race.”
This reference is obviously to prominent LTTE activists and supporters, a predicament which we reported as North American Tiger supporters being at sixes and sevens with each other. Evidently, since 95% of the funds raised in Toronto for the proposed court action against the Rajapakse brothers and Major General Sarath Fonseka, was in cash it must have had some impact on the decision to bypass Tamils for Justice.
Will the Sri Lankan Tamils domiciled in North America ever realize the enormous sums of funds collected in the name of the LTTE probably ended down fraudulent alley ways?
While we are publishing here the questions we want Bruce Fein to answer and in the current circumstance, we also need to know whether he is now actively involved with people who are supporting and promoting Tiger terrorism in Sri Lanka and therefore a party to crimes against humanity. We must also state that if Mr Gnanakone has indeed retained Bruce Fein to represent Tamils for Justice, then he must take prompt action against him by reporting him to the American Bar Association.
In conclusion Mr Gnanakone emphasized that he has put more than 35 years in the Tamil struggle and added, "I deal with all the editors of the Sri Lankan crowd and I know them personally except your editor because you are all new."
The following are the questions we submitted to Mr Gnanakone for answers from Attorney Bruce Fein:-
Question One: You have, we understand, served as Deputy Attorney-General in the Ronald Reagan administration and that goes back to thirty years. What was your specific area of involvement with this responsibility?
Question Two: Your name has suddenly come up in the North American Tamil Diaspora circles as an advocate determined to bring the two brothers of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Major General Sarath Fonseka before courts on charges of crimes against humanity. This you say is possible because all three of them are either Green Card holders or citizens of the US. This means a Tamil Diaspora organization has either hired you as their counsel to undertake such a task or you have volunteered an offer to undertake such a mission. Please throw some light on this move.
Question Three: The information we have from our journalists in North America – that is Canada and the US – is that you were retained by Tamils for Justice founded and headed by one Jayantha Gnanakone and therefore you have to take directions from this organization and also counsel them and it is they who will issue statements in respect of your observations and proposals, and your future moves would be what the Tamils for Justice would want. But we now see that there are serious conflicts in this Client-Counsel relationship. If this is true, this is a serious violation that courts in North America or even anywhere in the word will not tolerate. Please explain your position regarding this briefly and that is, are there Client-Counsel conflicts and if so why?
Question Four: You were sent by Tamils for Justice in the US to Canada to meet Tamil Diaspora groups in Toronto with a view to raise funds for a court action against the Rajapaksa brothers and Sarath Fonseka. You appear to have had three meetings there and held some media interviews and two of the meetings were in an LTTE-owned Hindu Temple. You have solely interacted with LTTE supporters or those associated with the World Tamil Movement both banned in Canada and raised funds through them. It appears from that moment in Canada, you have strayed away from your clients who had retained you and also on the basis of a monthly fee of $30,000. We are naturally concerned about this activity of yours if what we stated here is true. Please clarify your position to the Sri Lanka Guardian so that we can prepare a statement on it for our readers.
Question Five: Tamils for Justice claim that you have collected an impressionable sum of funds but have not submitted the accounts to them, neither are you responding to their communications. In fact, they even went to the extent of saying that you are in hiding. This is a very serious situation but seems very much like the way LTTE supporters have been collecting funds since 1983 like a perennial plague without being transparent or accountable. We have received many reports from Canada that your activities there have been determined by people of the banned terrorist organizations namely the LTTE and WTM or you became a loose cannon yourself to raise funds having seen this as an easy way of making money or you are operating in association with people from these banned organizations. We need to have your reaction to this concern of Sri Lanka Guardian.
Question Six: We have just heard that parties who have been working with you in the US and Canada but opposed to Tamils for Justice have now formed a new organization called "Justice for Thamils" and that you are the principal force behind it. Is there any truth in it; that is are you the prime motivator here? (One is Tamils for Justice and the other Justice for Thamils – and note the addition of "h" in the latter.)
Question Seven: If this is true, are the Tamil people being taken for a ride just like G G Ponnambalam did immediately after independence and many others afterwards? We trust you are familiar with Sri Lankan politics to appreciate the seriousness of this question and how the Tamils have been cheated by their own leaders and now the LTTE that may end up making Tamils history in Sri Lanka.
Question Eight: Is it true you have had serious dissensions with Mr Jayantha Gnanakone, the founder and head of Tamils for Justice on the question of representing the interests of the Tamils? We understand Mr Gnanakone wants none other but only the LTTE to represent the Tamils which is not only arrogant but also totally unacceptable. Were you not aware that this is his view when you accepted to be retained by him?
Question Nine: Our impression is that your involvement in this Sri Lankan issue is purely a monetary factor and not at all motivated by doing something good for the Tamils in your perceptions and that you see more money by ignoring Tamils for Justice and working with people from banned organizations.
Question Ten: Are you responsible for launching Justice for Thamils or in anyway behind such a move?
Question Eleven: Going through your speeches in Toronto, your interviews to the Tamil media and your conduct particularly in relation to your client, Tamils for Justice, the Sri Lanka Guardian feels you have conducted to date in a manner that raises serious doubts about your motives and integrity. We need to have your answer for us to make our own conclusions.
Question Twelve: One of our writers referred you as an AAA – American Ambulance-Chasing Attorney, a very sad aspect of attorney activities in the US. Are you in this mission in such a capacity especially ditching your client and work with people who could bring in more shekels?
- Sri Lanka Guardian
(July 21, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Last week Sri Lanka Guardian contacted the head and founder of Tamils for Justice Mr Jayantha Gnanakone, to have his attorney answer some questions in view of widespread concerns about the formation of Justice for Thamils and the still unaccounted large sums of funds collected in Toronto, 95% of which it was reported was in cash.
But Mr Gnanakone was not helpful. He even claimed the issue was too complex for us to understand and that The Toronto Star was doing a full investigation into “the developing scandal” about which we were convinced and had already reported on this parlous state of affairs days ago. This observation is quite interesting and has a White Sahib mentality about it.
In respect of the attorney he had retained, he said: “You have to comprehend that I cannot force a clever attorney like Bruce Fein to answer your questions” and virtually retorted that he was too busy since our contact person was not the only “little journalist” he has to answer. He added: “I am busy with attorneys, FBI, Congressmen, State Department and all our supporters worldwide, as well as maintaining our website, and dealing with those proscribed Tamil organizations and Bruce Fein himself.’
Ironically with his worldwide supporters, he could not keep his American attorney on his side! These proscribed Tamil organizations he referred to are Tiger supporters too just like Mr Gnanakone’s Tamils for Justice.
Mr Gnanakone who retained Bruce Fein for his own Tamils for Justice said categorically that Bruce Fein has resigned from Tamils for Justice and has “joined the fraudulent organization called Justice for Thamils started by various nefarious people belonging to the Tamil race.”
This reference is obviously to prominent LTTE activists and supporters, a predicament which we reported as North American Tiger supporters being at sixes and sevens with each other. Evidently, since 95% of the funds raised in Toronto for the proposed court action against the Rajapakse brothers and Major General Sarath Fonseka, was in cash it must have had some impact on the decision to bypass Tamils for Justice.
Will the Sri Lankan Tamils domiciled in North America ever realize the enormous sums of funds collected in the name of the LTTE probably ended down fraudulent alley ways?
While we are publishing here the questions we want Bruce Fein to answer and in the current circumstance, we also need to know whether he is now actively involved with people who are supporting and promoting Tiger terrorism in Sri Lanka and therefore a party to crimes against humanity. We must also state that if Mr Gnanakone has indeed retained Bruce Fein to represent Tamils for Justice, then he must take prompt action against him by reporting him to the American Bar Association.
In conclusion Mr Gnanakone emphasized that he has put more than 35 years in the Tamil struggle and added, "I deal with all the editors of the Sri Lankan crowd and I know them personally except your editor because you are all new."
The following are the questions we submitted to Mr Gnanakone for answers from Attorney Bruce Fein:-
Question One: You have, we understand, served as Deputy Attorney-General in the Ronald Reagan administration and that goes back to thirty years. What was your specific area of involvement with this responsibility?
Question Two: Your name has suddenly come up in the North American Tamil Diaspora circles as an advocate determined to bring the two brothers of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Major General Sarath Fonseka before courts on charges of crimes against humanity. This you say is possible because all three of them are either Green Card holders or citizens of the US. This means a Tamil Diaspora organization has either hired you as their counsel to undertake such a task or you have volunteered an offer to undertake such a mission. Please throw some light on this move.
Question Three: The information we have from our journalists in North America – that is Canada and the US – is that you were retained by Tamils for Justice founded and headed by one Jayantha Gnanakone and therefore you have to take directions from this organization and also counsel them and it is they who will issue statements in respect of your observations and proposals, and your future moves would be what the Tamils for Justice would want. But we now see that there are serious conflicts in this Client-Counsel relationship. If this is true, this is a serious violation that courts in North America or even anywhere in the word will not tolerate. Please explain your position regarding this briefly and that is, are there Client-Counsel conflicts and if so why?
Question Four: You were sent by Tamils for Justice in the US to Canada to meet Tamil Diaspora groups in Toronto with a view to raise funds for a court action against the Rajapaksa brothers and Sarath Fonseka. You appear to have had three meetings there and held some media interviews and two of the meetings were in an LTTE-owned Hindu Temple. You have solely interacted with LTTE supporters or those associated with the World Tamil Movement both banned in Canada and raised funds through them. It appears from that moment in Canada, you have strayed away from your clients who had retained you and also on the basis of a monthly fee of $30,000. We are naturally concerned about this activity of yours if what we stated here is true. Please clarify your position to the Sri Lanka Guardian so that we can prepare a statement on it for our readers.
Question Five: Tamils for Justice claim that you have collected an impressionable sum of funds but have not submitted the accounts to them, neither are you responding to their communications. In fact, they even went to the extent of saying that you are in hiding. This is a very serious situation but seems very much like the way LTTE supporters have been collecting funds since 1983 like a perennial plague without being transparent or accountable. We have received many reports from Canada that your activities there have been determined by people of the banned terrorist organizations namely the LTTE and WTM or you became a loose cannon yourself to raise funds having seen this as an easy way of making money or you are operating in association with people from these banned organizations. We need to have your reaction to this concern of Sri Lanka Guardian.
Question Six: We have just heard that parties who have been working with you in the US and Canada but opposed to Tamils for Justice have now formed a new organization called "Justice for Thamils" and that you are the principal force behind it. Is there any truth in it; that is are you the prime motivator here? (One is Tamils for Justice and the other Justice for Thamils – and note the addition of "h" in the latter.)
Question Seven: If this is true, are the Tamil people being taken for a ride just like G G Ponnambalam did immediately after independence and many others afterwards? We trust you are familiar with Sri Lankan politics to appreciate the seriousness of this question and how the Tamils have been cheated by their own leaders and now the LTTE that may end up making Tamils history in Sri Lanka.
Question Eight: Is it true you have had serious dissensions with Mr Jayantha Gnanakone, the founder and head of Tamils for Justice on the question of representing the interests of the Tamils? We understand Mr Gnanakone wants none other but only the LTTE to represent the Tamils which is not only arrogant but also totally unacceptable. Were you not aware that this is his view when you accepted to be retained by him?
Question Nine: Our impression is that your involvement in this Sri Lankan issue is purely a monetary factor and not at all motivated by doing something good for the Tamils in your perceptions and that you see more money by ignoring Tamils for Justice and working with people from banned organizations.
Question Ten: Are you responsible for launching Justice for Thamils or in anyway behind such a move?
Question Eleven: Going through your speeches in Toronto, your interviews to the Tamil media and your conduct particularly in relation to your client, Tamils for Justice, the Sri Lanka Guardian feels you have conducted to date in a manner that raises serious doubts about your motives and integrity. We need to have your answer for us to make our own conclusions.
Question Twelve: One of our writers referred you as an AAA – American Ambulance-Chasing Attorney, a very sad aspect of attorney activities in the US. Are you in this mission in such a capacity especially ditching your client and work with people who could bring in more shekels?
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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