Sri Lanka’s Special Presidential Commission investigating coal procurement summoned six new witnesses on Tuesday (July 15) and revealed that laboratory and power-generation records for the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant were never systematically digitised between 2011 and 2016.
Those called to testify include an official from the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, the chairman of a private power-generation company, and an official from the laboratory that tested imported coal after it was unloaded, NewsFirst reported. Several complainants were also summoned. The commission has now received 28 complaints in total.
The missing-records gap emerged as the panel recorded further evidence from Lakvijaya Deputy Plant Manager Thushantha Abeykoon, who could produce chemical-analysis and generation data only from 2017 onward. Commission Chairman and Supreme Court Justice Gihan Kulatunga directed the Attorney General’s Department to recover the earlier records.
Abeykoon’s testimony surfaced a series of concerns about coal bought for the 2025/2026 season. Shipments allegedly lacked key quality indicators such as Gross Calorific Value, forcing the plant to burn more coal and draw additional output from other thermal stations. The commission heard that some suppliers previously flagged for quality problems were still cleared to bid, and that required loading-port laboratory reports often reached the plant only after vessels had arrived. Consignments from South Africa drew particular scrutiny, as did purchases made at prices described as unrealistically low.
The panel also questioned why tenders were called under the Cost and Freight (CFR) pricing model when the Cabinet had approved only FOB and CIF; Abeykoon said CFR was adopted to simplify importing. Retired plant manager P.W. Bamunusinghe, who sat on the tender evaluation committee, testified that the bidding window for the 2025/2026 tender was cut from 48 to 21 days, then extended to 28 without fresh approval.
The sitting follows the commission’s earlier hearing on July 13. Appointed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the commission is examining all coal transactions since 2009.
