Alles says he is "hunted" by President Rajapaksa

Chief Justice Sarath N Silva said political reasons are seem to be behind the arrest of Rajapaksa's former close associate, Tiran Alles.

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Monday granted leave to proceed to a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed by Alles.

The owner of Standard Newspapers Group told journalists in Colombo that Rajapaksa is harassing him due to his close friendship with two former ministers.

Rajapaksa 'brother'

Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sroipathi Sooriyaarachchi were sacked by President Rajapaksa earlier this year.

President Rajapaksa was "like a brother" to him before the two ministers were sacked, Tiran Alles said.

	Former minister says evicting Tamils is similar to that of what Hitler did in WWII

"This is clearly a politically motivated harassment for me to stay away from two former ministers," he added.

He was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) but later released on bail.

Tiran Alles rejected accusations that he or his company gave money to Tamil Tigers, who are fighting for a separate state for Sri Lanka's Tamils.

'Similar to Hitler'

It will soon be revealed that who actually gave money to the LTTE, he added.

Both sacked ministers have earlier accused Rajapaksa administration of offering nearly RS. 1500 million before November 2005 presidential elections.

The world witnessed, Sooriyaarachchi told journalists on Monday, that "Rajapaksa worked like Hitler" by evicting Tamils from Colombo.

It was the second worst act against Tamils by the state after Black July in 1983, the former minister said.

He urged Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) members to join together to "safeguard" the ruling party form Rajapaksa administration.