Construction and Water Supply Minister Dr. Susil Ranasinghe said on Thursday that individuals raising allegations of fraud in coal procurement have not submitted formal complaints to the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate the matter.
Ranasinghe said allegations made in political forums should be presented to the Commission rather than made publicly without being formally reported. He singled out claims that former Power Minister Kumara Jayakody had met a coal supplier in Russia and received a commission of five crore rupees during coal import transactions, urging accusers to provide concrete details on where and when the alleged meeting took place, with whom, and under what circumstances.
The government, he said, has consistently rejected allegations of fraud in coal procurement, acknowledging only that certain shipments had been below the required quality standards. The Special Audit Report on the Lanka Coal Company tabled in Parliament had revealed numerous irregularities in the tender process, but the government’s position is that no illegal activities took place within the procurement chain itself.
The Special Presidential Commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Gihan Kulatunga, was appointed on April 17 to investigate all coal transactions since the inception of coal-based power generation in Sri Lanka. In a show of support for the independent process, Minister Jayakody and Ministry Secretary Professor Udayanga Hemapala resigned the same day.
The Commission’s work has accelerated this week. The Auditor General’s Department officials, the Energy Secretary and Electricity Generating Company representatives were formally summoned to testify on May 13–14, the most senior ministry-level engagement to date. Opposition figures including Patali Champika Ranawaka and others publicly refused to appear, while a separate JO faction has questioned whether the supplier was properly registered at signing.
Ranasinghe’s statement marks the government’s most direct counter-challenge to date, putting the onus on accusers to formalise their charges through the Commission’s evidentiary process.
