The ら(ra/la)、り(ri/li)、る(ru/lu)、れ(re/le)、ろ(ro/lo) characters are pronounced as both r and l, depending on the context and the person saying them.

But the norm transliteration is as the r sound, even if doesn't make sense. (How do you transliterate Eric Clapton? Well first they go to エリック　クラプトン(erikku kuraputon), which goes back to Eric Crapton.)

Marcello