Opposition MP S.M. Marikkar has questioned whether it is necessary to appear before the Presidential Commission probing substandard coal imports, citing remarks made publicly by JVP Secretary General Tilvin Silva that the Commission would clear the government within three months.
Marikkar played a video at a media briefing in which Silva forecast the inquiry would dismiss charges in three months — well inside the six-month duration President Anura Kumara Dissanayake set when appointing the Commission.
“Tilvin Silva has already given the verdict. Despite the President appointing the commission for six months, Silva is speaking as if the commission has already delivered its verdict, claiming they will be free of charges in three months,” Marikkar said.
The opposition MP also said Silva had signalled that former Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody — the central figure in the coal procurement controversy — would be cleared, and questioned whether engagement with the Commission was even required while a senior JVP office-bearer was pre-empting the outcome.
The Commission’s deadline for public submissions is May 22. Marikkar said Silva’s remarks were undermining the Commission’s credibility during that window.
The intervention extends the opposition’s confrontation with the inquiry. Patali Champika Ranawaka, Mujibur Rahuman Marikkar, A.P. Perera and D.V. Chanaka declared on Tuesday they would not appear before the Commission, citing JVP Media Unit images shared by Silva and arguing the inquiry was politically overseen rather than truly independent.
The Commission, gazetted with Supreme Court Justice Kulatunga as chair, has formally summoned the Auditor General and the Energy Secretary this week — its most senior ministry-level summons to date.
