The Hon. S.M. Marikkar

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I second the No-Confidence Motion brought by Hon. Ajith P. Perera against Minister Punith Kumara Jayakody. Let me be clear: this does not even require debate. The entire country knows theft has taken place. The nation accepts that more than Rs. 30 billion has been misused and lost. Former Chairman of Rupavahini Sarath Kongahage and an Additional Director General, Abeysinghe, have been remanded on charges of causing a loss of Rs. 14 million. Former Minister Arjuna Ranatunga was charged not for theft but for causing loss. This has been established multiple times.

¶ 02 This is the most organized grand larceny in Sri Lanka’s history. Why do I say organized? The supplier registered only on 19 August 2025. Even before registration, the bid documents were given to the supplier. How can that be? The $5,000 registration fee was paid only on 22 August. So it was planned. Before that, the Minister went to Russia and met the company previously supplying coal from Russia, and asked them to remove their local agent to install one of his choice. When they refused, after 11 vessels they stopped. Keep that aside. In the new tender, contrary to Auditor General’s prior guidance to allow 42 days, he cut the bidding window to 21 days—so that qualified companies would not have time to prepare in an orderly manner. The qualification of having supplied 500,000 MT with GCV above 5,900 kcal/kg in the last three years was reduced to 100,000 MT; and the three-year 1 million MT supply experience was reduced to 500,000 MT—deliberately to let tainted companies in. That is why the LCC Chairman resigned, saying he could not yield to pressure and that the Auditor General’s Department had given guidance which was being subverted. That is how this started.

¶ 03 Then they awarded the tender a day before the Attorney General’s approval, without AG’s concurrence. These are not my claims; they are in the Auditor General’s Report. If you now say even the AG’s Report is wrong, then what will you say about all the AG’s Reports on prior governments of Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa?

¶ 04 I have a disappointment with the President. He is a man of our class; we were happy another person from our class became President when Sajith Premadasa could not. But look at the fate he faces today—trying to protect his friend. Typically, when a Minister is appointed, he puts his own people as chairmen and directors. When Anura Kumara became Agriculture Minister, he placed this person on the Fertilizer Corporation’s Procurement Committee. When allegations arose in 2014–2018, this person—who funded the JVP website, provided a vehicle, and entered Parliament via the National List—was then given the vital Energy portfolio, like handing a sharp dagger. Now the whole “Malimawa” circle has smeared coal on their faces. Many of them know the truth in their hearts.

¶ 05 Note how few government MPs are here in the morning—they will come in the evening to vote under party pressure, but cannot sit through hearing this. The process was given to a problematic procurement. From 13 November to 31 December, for over 40 favorable days for unloading coal, not a single vessel arrived. The first vessel due on 14 December came only on 30 December—failed. When we pointed it out, they said our lab lacked accreditation—nonsense. They said they rely on India’s COTECNA certificates. The first vessel failed there too; second and third passed. But we said the real-time report from Lakvijaya is what matters. They refused to accept it. The AG’s Report section 6.2.1 clearly states the real-time boiler data is the true measure. The first three vessels failed on calorific value; when we spoke up, we were vilified. If they had listened and cancelled after repeated failures instead of obstinately saying “we can only cancel after two consecutive rejections,” much of this loss, the inflow of substandard coal, the power cuts, and the double tariff increase could have been avoided. Because of one person’s arrogance and recklessness, the whole government and country reached the brink of power cuts.

¶ 06 When we asked to cancel, they now claim the AG has said cancellation was possible—so why didn’t they? They knew substandard coal was arriving and the deal was rotten, with less than 300 MW generated. The Minister smuggled in bad coal to justify emergency purchases. This time they suspended spot tenders and went only with term tenders to pave the way for a new deal. On the spot tender, coal at $98.50/MT turned into five ships at about $145/MT for 300,000 MT, causing an extra loss of over $13 million—Rs. 4.2 billion—on top of the first loss. The AG’s Report also states the Indian company in the spot tender could not meet the required calorific value; they supplied below 5,000 kcal/kg. These are from the AG’s report.

¶ 07 If the Minister were genuine, when vessels failed and generation dropped, he should have checked umpire samples. The first ship arrived on 30 December; there were three months to test umpire samples—didn’t do it. Even a third-party lab option existed—didn’t do it. Isn’t that a crime?

¶ 08 They even sent South African coal samples for testing in Indonesia to a lab whose accreditation had lapsed as of 31 March. This is a game. Now they try to blame officials. The standard government excuse: “We did not raise fuel or electricity prices.” But earlier they asked if a President was needed to increase prices. Anura Kumara, as President then, asked, “Is the Gas Company Chairman more powerful than the Minister?” Now is the Coal Company above the President? Karma is at work.

¶ 09 To the “Malimawa” MPs: if you have a conscience, think and act. Do not let one man nullify decades of your struggle. The people gave a mandate to fight corruption. You promised to catch crooks, bring Arjuna Mahendran back, recover Ugandan funds—all forgotten. In our history, ministers have resigned on conscience: in 1983 Gamini Jayasuriya; in 1987 Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena left over the Indo-Lanka Accord; under good governance, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe resigned. If you have conscience, lead today. We are not interested in peripheral issues; we want the people’s mandate acted upon—remove him.

¶ 10 Thank you, Hon. Speaker.