The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, first I draw your attention to one matter. Under Standing Order 91(c), allegations were levelled against Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara. I request that portion be expunged from the Hansard. However, when it was said he had been with the Pohottuwa, that is true — he was. Those in the JVP here helped bring Mahinda Rajapaksa to power in 2004 and handed the country to the Rajapaksa dynasty. They then helped Sirisena in 2015. Now they speak as if born again and pure. I will not spend more time on that.

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Chair, another matter: the Minister of Power ran out of the Chamber this morning. The President always says not a single rupee is stolen by this Government. Yet broad daylight robberies happen. We expose the coal scam but there is no accountability; only excuses.

¶ 03 At Lanka Coal Company, tender periods must be 42 days; they cut it to 21 to keep reputed firms out. Past performance criteria were diluted from supplying 5 million MT over three years with >5,900 kcal/kg to only 1 million MT. Revenue thresholds of USD 150 million over three years were also manipulated. This was to benefit the corrupt. The Minister of Justice is here; he should know. They cleared the path for specific bidders.

¶ 04 The first vessel was delayed. Even now, the Ministry does not know how the coal unloaded was fed into the boilers. Real-time reports showed failure to produce 300 MW. Initially, they called us liars; now they admit the first cargo failed quality. The second report has mysteriously vanished. The Minister claimed no low-quality coal arrived; later the Ministry said if so, they would impose penalties. How can penalties be pre-announced before Indian lab reports arrive?

¶ 05 We learn the third vessel also failed; the fourth too. Information indicates the fourth cargo fed into boilers on 27 January produced only 790 MW instead of 810 MW. Why protect the culprits? They say a USD 2.1 million penalty was imposed. How calculated? Was the loss from low-quality coal quantified? Was equipment damage to boilers costed? Was the replacement power purchased on the spot market, at what cost, and from which “mafia”? None of this is explained. We hear they are rushing to a spot tender — inevitably costlier than a normal tender.

¶ 06 The bidding document’s termination clause speaks of two different shipments outside tolerance at load and jetty ports, yet they talk of cancelling two successive upcoming shipments; that is not what the clause says. On what basis are they moving to spot procurement after the third and fourth failures?

¶ 07 This looks like a plan: cancel tenders, create a coal shortage and cut power. We warned this would lead to power cuts. It seems they blended previously imported coal with the poor-quality coal to manage somehow.

¶ 08 Hon. Minister of Justice, I respect your forthrightness. Please raise this in Cabinet and stop this fraud and loss. Thank you.

¶ 09 I yield my remaining time to Hon. Harshana Rajakaruna.