Pressure mounts on Energy Minister to resign

2026-02-21 - 14:36

Strong pressure has reportedly been mounted by the Opposition calling on Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody to resign, taking responsibility for the alleged tender fraud in the supply of coal to the Norochcholai Power Plant. The Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa, has also requested the Government to conduct an independent investigation into the alleged fraud. Former Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka has likewise made a written request to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption to probe the alleged corruption and irregularities in the coal tender. During the adjournment debate held in Parliament on Friday (20) regarding the coal scam, Opposition MPs stated that the Energy Minister should be removed from his post. MP S.M. Marikkar, who moved the debate, said that laboratory tests had confirmed that the coal supplied to the power plant was of substandard quality. He further alleged that commissions from the tender had been credited to an account belonging to the mother-in-law of the minister’s wife at a state bank in Homagama. Although Minister Nalinda Jayatissa requested that the relevant bank account numbers be presented to the House, the MP stated that the information would be submitted at the next sitting. During the parliamentary debate, MPs D.V. Chanaka and Ajith P. Perera also stressed that the minister should resign from his post. The Opposition pointed out that losses amounting to approximately Rs. 1.2 billion had occurred as a result of this coal tender. The Government, however, stated that it would recover the losses from the company awarded the tender. Government MPs have also drawn attention to discrepancies revealed in the technical data submitted by officials of the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, and the Lakvijaya Power Plant at the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Infrastructure and Strategic Development, chaired by MP S.M. Marikkar. The Opposition maintains that the best course of action to avoid the difficulties faced by the Government and the President, due to the need to increase electricity tariffs from April in order to cover the losses caused by the coal tender, would be for the minister to resign or for the President to remove him from office without delay. Responding to the debate, Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody said: “There has been no fraud whatsoever in the coal tender. False claims are being spread in society. According to the Auditor General’s reports, the process was relaxed in 2023. All suppliers were registered only after verifying their qualifications. We did not arbitrarily appoint relatives or political affiliates as in previous years, and obtain Cabinet approval. Applications were called online, and suppliers were registered only after examining all qualifications. There were 26 suppliers registered at the time the tender was called, and 10 valid bids were received. This is the highest number of bids ever received for a coal tender in history. This was not done to favour anyone in particular.”