The Hon. Sunil Watagala, Attorney-at-Law - Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, this No-Confidence Motion was brought by the Opposition. They know it touches a sub judice matter before court. Nevertheless, if the country wants this debate, we are ready without fear.

¶ 02 Many balls bowled at us have been no-balls. Hon. Marrikkar spoke of an account at Homagama People’s Bank in a grandmother’s name—no answer yet. They claimed our Power Minister Kumara Jayakody was convicted by a court. We asked for the case number; none has been presented—another no-ball.

¶ 03 Amidst the coal clamour, recall the earlier noise about 323 containers: allegations flew, even that Minister Bimal Ratnayake gave orders. The President appointed a committee; now a parliamentary committee chaired by a senior judge is inquiring. Officials explained; once clarified, those who shouted are now silent kittens. Do not fear reports and debates.

¶ 04 On coal, we referred matters to COPE; officials were summoned and a major debate ensued. Some who raised issues then walked out. We are not afraid. If we were, we would not invite such debates in this House, even while matters are in court.

¶ 05 They look at this relative to their politics. We, a group of 159, take collective decisions. If one of ours errs, we do not wait for the Opposition’s no-confidence to act. In history we have removed popular members for wrongdoing. We will not keep someone just because the Opposition screams. That is our practice.

¶ 06 I examined who brought this motion: among the 36 signatories are Hon. Sujeewa Senasinghe, Hon. (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, Hon. Ajith P. Perera, Hon. Hector Appuhamy and Hon. Harshana Rajakaruna—the very five who placed footnotes to justify the Central Bank bond scam. Penal Code section 138 speaks of “unlawful assembly”—minimum five. This motion has been brought by an “unlawful assembly” of those who aided and justified the largest robbery of the Central Bank, and now they seek to examine Kumara Jayakody.

¶ 07 Hon. Marrikkar called this an organized robbery; another called us digital terrorists. Those labels fit that very group; their names are in Hansard. When we debated COPE’s report on the bond scam, nine Members put footnotes. Those who organized and justified that heist now table motions to probe us.

¶ 08 Our group works collectively; we do not allow political corruption. No evidence has been presented today that any of our members engaged in corruption. Issues lie within procurement processes; those processes have built-in remedies. If there was any loss due to substandard coal, we will not, under any circumstance, pass it on to consumers.

¶ 09 We have demonstrated good practices. Neither we nor our group have given life to corrupt acts. If there are shortcomings, we will correct them. COPE has already discussed these matters; if you wish, we will facilitate another debate in this House. Thank you.