U.S. Government Freezes Md. Foundation’s Assets in Terrorism Probe

The U.S. government has frozen the assets of a foundation in Maryland, saying the grant maker gave money that benefited the Sri Lankan separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

In a statement, the Treasury Department said it was moving against the Tamil Foundation, a private grant maker in Cumberland, Md., because the group supported the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization. In 2007, the Treasury Department shut down the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, accusing it of being a front for the Tamil Tigers, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

“The LTTE, like other terrorist groups, has relied on so-called charities to raise funds and advance its violent aims,” said Adam J. Szubin, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, in a statement. “We will continue to aggressively target attempts by any terrorist group to hide behind charities, front companies, or name changes to propagate terror against innocents around the world.”

The Tamil Foundation is run by N. Ranjithan, a doctor in Maryland who was a former head of the Maryland office of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization.

Dr. Ranjithan said his personal foundation had given a grant to the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, but he disputed that the money — or other grants made by his foundation — supported terrorism.

“We worked with them in terms of relief work, and that is all we did,” he said.

He said his foundation had also supported a number of other charities in north east Sri Lanka, all of them with the goal of providing humanitarian aid.

Dr. Ranjithan said he would seek legal assistance and contest the Treasury’s move. He declined to specify the assets of the Tamil Foundation.