The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) says it will file court cases seeking to have both of the Lakvijaya Power Plant coal tenders declared legally invalid, escalating the coal procurement scandal into a judicial challenge on the same day Parliament debates a no-confidence motion against the Energy Minister.
Speaking at a press conference at the party’s Nugegoda headquarters on April 9, FSP Educational Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda said the long-term 25-shipment tender awarded to Trident Chemphar and the five-shipment emergency tender awarded to Tarangot Resources were both unlawful.
Jayagoda cited a National Audit Office report released on April 2, 2026, which he said had confirmed irregularities in the Trident Chemphar award. Under Sri Lanka’s procurement rules, tender documents may only be issued to registered companies. Trident Chemphar received the documents by email on August 18, 2025, but did not apply for registration until the following day — a sequence the FSP argues voids the process, he said. Jayagoda added that the tender agreement was signed on November 19, 2025, one day before the Attorney General’s approval was granted on November 20, which he said made the contract legally invalid.
On the emergency tender, Jayagoda said Tarangot Resources failed to meet the minimum qualification requiring prior experience trading at least one million tonnes of high-calorific coal within 36 months. The company had not sold coal on that scale, he said, making the award illegal.
The FSP also raised questions about the involvement of businessman Dhammika Perera and an associated company in the transactions, without providing further details at the briefing.
The party said the cases will seek two remedies: a court declaration that both tenders are invalid, and an order preventing the associated costs from being passed on to electricity consumers.
The move opens a new legal front in the Lakvijaya crisis, which has already produced a COPE auditor general’s report exposing procurement irregularities, an audit quantifying Rs. 2.24 billion in efficiency losses, a presidential admission of sub-standard coal deliveries, and a no-confidence motion against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody being debated in Parliament today.
