Relatives of alleged Tamil Tiger supporter Suresh Sriskandarajah pledged $445,000 last week to ensure he won't flee if released from jail while awaiting extradition to the United States.
Defence lawyer Clayton Ruby said the University of Waterloo engineering graduate - who has no criminal record - would never betray family members willing to put up "everything they have" as bail.
"This is the kind of young person you can trust when he says to you 'I will surrender,' " he told Justice Pat Flynn in Superior Court in Kitchener.
Federal prosecutor Nick Devlin, however, produced seized financial records to argue Sriskandarajah, 26, has both the means and "connections" to flee to Sri Lanka even after surrendering his passport.
The bail hearing was attended by more than 20 of Sriskandarajah's friends and relatives.
Sriskandarajah has been in custody for more than a month after he was arrested in a joint FBI-RCMP investigation into support for the Tamil Tigers.
He is portrayed in FBI documents as the leader of four suspected supporters with ties to UW and the Tamil student association on campus.
In all, 12 men -- including seven Canadians -- were arrested in a plot allegedly involving an attempt to buy weapons, bribery, smuggling, money laundering and financial aid through front charities.
U.S. officials want Sriskandarajah turned over to face charges he helped buy equipment, laundered money and used student couriers to smuggle goods into areas of northern Sri Lanka controlled by the Tamil Tigers.
A thin, clean-cut man, he listened attentively throughout the bail hearing and bowed to Flynn before taking the witness stand.
"I swear to God I will go back" to the US if extradited, he told the judge.
Other witnesses included his mother, Ganaghamalar Kathiresu, and his younger brother, Suthan Sriskandarajah.
Both said they knew little about his finances and never discussed his views on the Tamil Tigers at any length.
"I understand this is a very serious issue, but he is my brother," said Suthan, 23. "I'm willing to support him no matter what."
Devlin said a notebook seized at Sriskandarajah's house in a middle-class Waterloo neighbourhood showed he attended a conference in Sri Lanka in late 2004 that was organized by the Tamil Tigers.
It appeared to have been signed, he said, by other supporters Sriskandarajah met there.
"Dear Brother," began one of the entries, which was translated into English by investigators. "I laud your great service of embracing the youngsters and facilitate them joining our war."
A full-time student for six years before he graduated from UW in June, Sriskandarajah testified he made just $24,000 in 2005 from a co-op job placement.
Devlin said that is at odds with evidence he was the main supporter for his family -- including his mother, stepfather, two brothers in university and a third younger brother.
He also said seized records show Sriskandarajah paid $100,000 into a credit card account in a short period earlier this year and handled almost $500,000 for an electronics company in five weeks.
Ruby submitted several glowing reference letters on Sriskandarajah's academic record and community involvement.
He had a 95 per cent average in his last year of high school in Toronto and a professor at UW wrote he had never given a perfect mark in 36 years before Sriskandarajah earned one.
