Tamil gives Tories £1m – as Sri Lanka gets £6m aid

FOREIGN aid to Sri Lanka was significantly increased after a businessman from the country oversaw donations of more than £1 million to the Conservative Party, the Daily Mail reveals today.

David Cameron announced last November that £6.6million was being set aside for Sri Lanka over three years, including help for Tamils forced from their homes during the civil war.

In the year before the announcement, the Tory Party registered donations of more than £1million from Tamil businessman Subaskaran Allirajah and his controversial telecoms firm Lycamobile.

Mr Allirajah, 44, is the founder and chairman of Lycamobile, a firm that sells pre-paid phone cards. He grew up in Mullaitivu, a Tamil area in the north of Sri Lanka. Now worth £160million he is reportedly Britain’s 640th richest person.

In 2009, the UK ceased aid to Sri Lanka for all but humanitarian emergencies. But after Lycamobile started donating to the Tory

‘Transparently declared’

Party two years later, funds were allocated to the country from the conflict pool – a pot set aside for tackling instability overseas.

In the year before Mr Cameron announced the £6.6million to Sri Lanka, the Conservatives reported donations of £967,000 from Lycamobile and a personal donation of £100,000 from Mr Allirajah.

Lycamobile has donated a total of £2,209,712 to the Tory Party since 2011.

In June, 19 people connected to the company were arrested in a raid in France amid allegations of VAT fraud and money laundering of at least £13.4million.

Lycamobile has previously denied financial malpractice. The firm and Mr Allirajah did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for the Tory Party said: ‘All donations to the Conservative Party are properly and transparently declared’.