The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

¶ 01 Shall we listen to the speech now? They brought a no-confidence motion and now protest when we respond. What are you doing?

¶ 02 Everyone please be seated.

¶ 03 In this no-confidence debate, what are we protecting, Hon. Speaker? We are protecting a policy. As the National People’s Power Government, as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, and as individuals, we have for decades upheld a policy. We are not a party that betrays our policy for an individual or a group. We never have. That is why, even before others said anything, we have expelled individuals from our party when necessary.

¶ 04 A major element of our party’s public mandate is integrity. We protect that policy. Whether Minister Jayakody or anyone else, if there is a deficiency, we would not wait for your no-confidence motion—we would act. We have already removed a few local authority members. Having reviewed the Minister’s actions and the entire tender process, we see no procedural lapse or corruption. Therefore, we will vote against the no-confidence motion. We accept that the issue has created public concern. There is also a pending court matter over a prior administrative lapse when the Minister served as an official at Lanka Fertilizer—this did not occur during his time as a Minister.

¶ 05 Do not be desperate. You are desperate. You seek to brand our Government with theft. How? Your front row holds three footnote signatories. At least one serious figure could have led this motion—but I will not go there. I will say this: you will lose this motion. We tell you—go to court.

¶ 06 Hon. Speaker, we discussed with the President. Therefore, we state that following this no-confidence motion, the Hon. President will appoint a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry. This Commission will be composed of sitting Justices of the Supreme Court—not retired judges. From around 2009, about 465 coal shipments have arrived—452 of them during your time; only 13 in ours. We will examine them all. If wrongdoing is found, will you be ready to go to jail? A Special Presidential Commission will be appointed, comprised of sitting Supreme Court Justices, to investigate the entire coal procurement process since 2009. If Minister Jayakody is guilty, he will go to jail. If you are guilty, you will go to jail.

¶ 07 Therefore, let us proceed accordingly. As a Government, we assure the people: the trust you placed in us will not be sullied by a word or a decimal. We will protect the public mandate. When allegations arise against our Minister, we will defend against falsehoods, but to dispel lingering doubts, we will have a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry led by a sitting Supreme Court Justice. We expect you to come before it and provide information.

¶ 08 Thank you, Hon. Speaker.