The Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating coal procurement has begun drafting its final report, and expects to hand it to the President before 16 December, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday.
The commission said the drafting stage has now commenced.
The scale of the inquiry
Appointed on 17 April to investigate coal transactions, the commission has reviewed 37 complaints and recorded statements from 72 individuals.
The date fits the extension it was granted
The mid-December deadline lines up with the extra time the commission sought in October. Its original term was due to expire on 16 October, and six days before that it asked the President for a two-month extension — which would carry its mandate to 16 December, the date by which it now says the report will be delivered.
At the time of that request the commission had recorded evidence from more than 70 people and had issued notices to 18 individuals, asking them to state their position on irregularities it had identified in coal imports and procurement. Those served were given two weeks from receipt to submit representations — a sequence that could not have been completed within the original term.
The statement count reported on Wednesday, 72, is consistent with that earlier figure.
What the commission was asked to examine
The inquiry covers alleged irregularities in coal imports and coal-fired electricity generation. Sri Lanka’s coal purchasing supplies the Norochcholai power station, the country’s only coal plant and its largest single generator of electricity.
Wednesday’s report did not say whether the final report will be made public, or when.
