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Britain's parliament has confirmed that classified details of the UK mercenary organisation, known as Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), have been fully disclosed to the Metropolitan Police Services (MPS) war crimes team, who are currently investigating allegations of war crimes committed by the UK entities in Sri Lanka during the 1980s.
Classified documents
On Monday, Labour MP Lloyd Russell- Moyle, asked the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office about the disclosure of a classified file detailing the activities of British mercenaries in Sri Lanka.
The Office “has shared the full contents of this file with the Metropolitan Police in the context of this investigation”, replied Minister of State Nigel Adams.
When Russel-Moyle questioned why the Department has not released a full copy of the file, Nigel Adams answered that withheld parts were exempt from disclosure under the law.
“This file has been reviewed under the Public Records Act and has been transferred to The National Archives (TNA). The file is currently held closed at TNA on grounds of sensitivity under Freedom of Information Act exemptions. The FCDO only withholds information from release under the Public Records Act in line with legal exemptions,” Adams responded.
Investigative journalist Phil Miller has launched a fundraising campaign to help fund legal costs as he challenges the UK Foreign Office to release the classified file concerning KMS. Speaking on the issue he told Tamil Guardian that the refusal to release the file was an act of censorship and further stated:
“The Foreign Office is censoring British history and covering up the full truth about UK mercenaries in Sri Lanka.”
“You have to ask yourself why the UK government wants to keep a file about Keenie Meenie hidden from the Tamil community until 2046? The government's own rules say diplomatic files should be released after 20 years, not 60 years. So I'm taking the government to court to stop it from hiding history", he added.
War Crimes Team
Co-leader of the UK Greens, Siân Berry, also inquired about the war crimes team which is conducting the investigations in question.
“Could you tell me: a) how many officers and staff are assigned to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) war crimes team, b) the budget assigned to the MPS war crimes team, c) how many scoping exercises they have carried out and are currently carrying out and, d) which Government departments the war crimes team is working with for their investigation into British mercenaries in Sri Lanka?” Berry asked.
Although Mayor of London Sadiq Khan could not comment publicly on particulars of the ongoing investigation, he responded that there are “16 officers and staff are assigned to the War Crimes Team.”
“The team are able to call upon the full range of CT Policing (CTP) capabilities and additional support as needed,” he added. “The War Crimes Team is part of CTP and funded from CT grant. It is not possible to readily disaggregate expenditure from the grant relating to this specific function. Currently, there are 19 matters subject to scoping.”
Berry further questioned if the Metropolitan police were able to question "David Walker, co-founder of the mercenary group Keenie Meenie Services, for its scoping exercise into allegations of war crimes by British mercenaries in Sri Lanka during the 1980s?"
To which Khan was unable to provide an answer, stating:
"The MPS do not comment publicly on matters subject to an ongoing investigation".
Read more: British security firm Saladin tries to distance itself from war crimes committed in Sri Lanka
