The Hon. Ajith P. Perera

¶ 01 Not only that, Hon. Speaker, even Anura Kumara Dissanayake protected him. That is the regrettable matter. The current President, who sat on the front row of the Opposition in this House for over 20 years speaking against corruption, in a situation like this would have, if someone from another party did this, or if a Minister of another party were in such a position, said: “That Minister must resign. How can a Minister under corruption allegations remain in the Cabinet?” The same Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who used to ask that, today looks away when his close friend—his best friend, his comrade, a colleague who worked together in the Fertilizer Corporation—faces a corruption allegation. That is unfortunate, Hon. Speaker. Such a Minister is not fit to hold this office.

¶ 02 Further, Hon. Speaker, the company that won this tender, Trident Chemphar Limited, had previously been blacklisted as supplying 30,000 metric tons of rice to the Government of Sri Lanka through a corrupt process; it is a disreputable company. The CEO of Trident Chemphar Limited has been arrested in India in connection with the prominent corruption case known as the Delhi liquor licence case. Their Sri Lankan representative and head, Jayasundara, has been convicted in a cricket-related corruption matter and is under a multi-year cricket ban. Moreover, two Directors of the company were arrested in January in connection with corruption. What does this show? This is not a company that simply presented and was rejected. Trident Chemphar is a company with a criminal track record, notorious in India, associated with money laundering, and mired in Indian politics. Arrangements were made watching and waiting until the tender went to such a company.

¶ 03 Hon. Speaker, I have an important point. Hon. Minister (Dr.) Nalinda Jayatissa, you are against corruption. I still believe you are not involved in corruption. When this issue arose, the Chairman appointed by your government to the Lanka Coal Company tender oversight—specifically, the Chairman of the Coal Company—submitted his resignation letter. You may not have seen it. In that letter he said he could not be held responsible for future legal liabilities concerning this coal tender; that the Secretary to the Ministry was making serious errors; therefore he was resigning. He submitted two letters of resignation. The first letter still exists in the Coal Company. If something improper was happening, if there was a shortcoming, and if the Minister did not know, but the Secretary did, then when a Chairman you appointed says, “This is wrong; I cannot take responsibility; I resign,” what should be done, Hon. Speaker? You should inquire. But that was not done. They told the Chairman to withdraw the first letter and to submit a second letter citing health reasons. Both letters exist at the Coal Company. Hon. Minister Nalinda Jayatissa, you did not know of this. But that Minister did. His Secretary knew. Lanka Coal Company comes under his Ministry. Although labeled “private,” it is a state-owned company. Its Chairman was appointed by your government. There is no doubt; it was a political appointment. Yet when your own appointee resigns citing wrongdoing, they remained silent, because they were involved—connected to wrongdoing and corruption. Such a Minister cannot continue in office, Hon. Speaker.

¶ 04 This Minister also did something else: undermining solar power. We all know Sri Lanka today meets about 20–25% of our electricity needs from solar. We are proud of that. Without battery systems, about 25% of national generation in recent times has been supplied from solar—roughly equal to the current generation from Norochcholai. On 6 September 2016, through the “Soorya Bala Sangramaya” programme, Net Plus, Net Metering, and Net Accounting were introduced; rent-seeking was removed; tender systems were introduced; and citizens were empowered to invest cleanly in solar without intervention by Ministers or Secretaries. Because of that, today the country has about 3,000 MW of solar power. Hon. Speaker, we have a foundational claim to that achievement. But this Minister undermined the country’s future—global future—of renewables; he undermined Parliament, ridiculed the solar business, insulted entrepreneurs and consumers, and wrecked these advancements. The same person now acts this way on coal. We can see the connection.

¶ 05 Hon. Speaker, let me ask: The Coal Company Chairman tendered his resignation. The press reported it. We raised it here at that time—that he resigned because this tender was corrupt, and he could not take responsibility. The President did not ask, “Punith Kumara, what is this issue?” You did not ask either. That is the sad situation. Had you acted, the disaster befalling the country could have been averted. If you had been sensitive to this in October, months ago, we could have averted the massive loss now incurred. What is the IMF saying today? What is the top news? The IMF says one of the main reasons for Sri Lanka’s electricity tariff increase is the coal corruption. Is that not enough to resign? Even if we assume there was no theft, no corruption, your responsibility is management and policy. Having failed that, can you remain? Is the loss small? According to PUCSL’s report, the loss on the first vessel alone is Rs. 8,492 million—an immediate loss. Around 18 vessels were expected; the loss would at least double, and with diesel prices increased, losses could triple.

¶ 06 In such a situation you cannot just sit with your head in your hands, Minister. Face the public. You enjoy ministerial office and privileges because of the people. Your government received a mandate as anti-corruption. There are 159 government MPs; we respect that mandate. But remember: Punith Kumara Jayakody, brought in on the National List and made Power Minister, has acted against that people’s mandate, committing the misconduct called corruption. He did it once at the Fertilizer Corporation; he did it again here—the largest corruption in Sri Lanka’s history. Minister Bimal Rathnayake, before you rose, I will say this: Hon. Minister, even you got entangled in this; I did not expect that. You spoke on behalf of Trident Chemphar Limited, saying if too much penalty is imposed the company might go bankrupt and “cry,” so penalties should be restrained. We were shocked. You did not speak for the “YO” vessel; you spoke for Trident Chemphar. You can reply in your time.

¶ 07 This Minister was informed by the Lanka Coal Company (Pvt.) Ltd. in April 2025, in the proper way, to commence the next year’s tender. Now, attempts are afoot to jail officials—saying the Minister is blameless and officials must be held responsible: the Secretary and LCC officials. We hear these plans. If officials erred, punish them. But the Minister should go to jail too.

¶ 08 LCC notified on 08 April 2025 to begin the next tender. Yet bids were called only on 18 August 2025—delayed—giving Trident Chemphar time to obtain basic qualifications. The Auditor General says they lacked qualifications and were not even properly registered by then. They were hurriedly arranged—an inexperienced, globally shunned company with a criminal history in international coal trade. Even registration was not in order, yet they were allowed to bid. The most striking part: normally tenders allow 42 days; from April they delayed and then abruptly cut it to 21 days—this was not LCC’s delay but Punith Kumara Jayakody’s. After deciding Trident Chemphar’s price as the lowest, Trident had no coal. They delayed a further 40 days. Explain why 40 days’ delay. This is precisely corruption—these are the acts of malfeasance. Finally, on 29 October 2025 the contract was awarded—delaying when it suited them and rushing when it suited them—because of corruption. Under modern definitions, this is corruption.

¶ 09 They also changed the procurement approach. For Norochcholai there are two methods: spot tenders and term tenders. Over 16 years, 135 vessels came via spot and 240 via term tenders. The Auditor General observed that procuring from two streams reduces risk and is beneficial and secure for energy security. LCC recommended going with both term and spot. But the Minister refused—because they wanted to “eat with both hands.” If two companies were engaged, prices could be compared and competition ensured. They scrapped the parallel approach, gave it to one company, and paved the way for corruption—dragging the country to ruin.

¶ 10 When the crisis emerged, the plant said they could not generate power as the coal was substandard, and also claimed plant issues. Our Deputy Minister was present and said we should check if the plant is damaged. But Norochcholai is an automated plant; data cannot be falsified. The problem is in the coal—now repeatedly proven. So, it is not a plant defect.

¶ 11 This should have been resolved by checking the umpire sample. The Auditor General says before the crisis escalated, there was every possibility to resolve it by testing umpire samples, but it was not done—due to corruption and the fear of being caught.

¶ 12 Hon. Minister, you and your team are putting the burden on the innocent people who gave you an anti-corruption mandate. You have betrayed that mandate. Be ashamed, Minister. Resign now. If you will not, then all of you in this government will be complicit in this crime if you protect a person proven by the Auditor General’s report to have engaged in wrongdoing. Even if Hon. Nalinda Jayatissa is my friend, if you will not stand straight at a time like this and instead raise your hand for a corrupt colleague proved by the Auditor General, then you too will be supporting it. Forget party, forget JVP or NPP; think of the country. Vote according to your conscience against this Minister.