The Hon. Najith Indika

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, today we debate the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against the Minister over alleged fraud in the coal tender. For months the Opposition has tried to make “coal” the singular theme to pressure the Government. This debate helps clarify matters, including through the Auditor General’s reports.

¶ 02 The core Opposition claim is that the Government or Minister deliberately brought substandard coal. The President and many here have already said shortcomings occurred; we all accepted that values were lower in some consignments. But alleging that the Minister or Government intentionally procured inferior coal through fraud is baseless.

¶ 03 How is coal imported? Since Lakvijaya began in 2009, the first shipment arrived in 2010; to date around 450 vessels have come. The seller loads at origin (South Africa), and a Load Port laboratory issues a report; payments are made on that. About 80% is paid based on load-port results; the remaining 20% is paid after destination lab tests in Sri Lanka confirm specifications. That is the standing procedure — not changed after 2023. If destination tests fail, the 20% is adjusted or withheld accordingly. In 2014, seven ships had issues; on re-testing of retained samples, four still failed — this is not new.

¶ 04 The Minister did not meddle to bring substandard coal. Our challenge was to restore competitive tendering after years of Cabinet paper–based procurements outside tender. Under this Minister, after three years, term tenders were reintroduced. Some recent ships had issues with lab reports; we are addressing them strictly per tender conditions, including penalties, and recovering from the supplier. For the first time in years, delay penalties have been imposed. Past losses, like about Rs. 1.5 billion (2015–19), were not recovered.

¶ 05 We are building a rules-based system. Those who benefited from the old ad hoc culture resist and manufacture problems. But we will proceed.

¶ 06 On COPE, its Chair must be someone without a tainted history. We cannot appoint those who once added footnotes to protect their own side. We appointed someone we believe is clean. Thank you.