Cash-Strapped? Not on your Life! Tamils of Nandikadal Last Redoubt had loads strapped to their bodies

 reporting speech by AJ Cabraal  to Foreign Correspondents Association   — The Island, 20 February 2014, where the title reads “Last stages of War: Tamils moved with billions of rupees strapped to their  bodies – Cabraal”

Currency notes to the tune of billions of rupees, most of which were soiled  as a result of being tied to the bodies of Northern Tamils who were forced to  move about with the LTTE during the last stages of the war, had been deposited  with state banks during May 2009, the Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal  revealed yesterday.

Addressing the Foreign Correspondents Association, after its members had  visited the Bank’s Currency Museum, Cabraal said that two days after the conflict had concluded, he and his officials along with staff of  the Bank of Ceylon and Peoples Bank, visited the refugee camps in the  North. “Initially the Tamils were reluctant to deposit their monies with us,  since they did not know where it would go. But once we identified ourselves, the  notes flowed in. It ran into billions of rupees. Containers had to be used to  collect and transport them to the respective banks.”

The Governor pointed out that during the last three months of the war, Tamil  civilians in Wanni had left their homes, after taking whatever cash and gold  that was in their possession.”The notes were strapped mainly to their hips and  legs, which had got soiled due to them having to move through marshy land and  lagoons. The spoilt currency notes had to be replaced.” “You could say that it was the closest the Central Bank had come to money  laundering,” a smiling Governor said.

Asked how much of cash and gold had been collected, Cabraal replied that the  notes alone ran into billions of rupees. Cabraal announced that the Central Bank was planning to issue a new series of  ten rupee coins in stainless steel, depicting features relevant to each of the  25 districts by September.

One side of the coin would be the same for all the districts and could be  used in any part of the country, he noted “For example the coin released in  Colombo would have an image of the city and port. The Nuwara Eliya coin would  have a picture of tea pluckers. Religious, cultural and socio economic themes  would also be used. We have fined tuned the artistry, but the thoughts came from  the public in the form of 256 entries.”

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