Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, joined by a group of opposition parliamentarians, has declared that they will not testify before the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry investigating substandard coal imports, marking the first organised opposition resistance to the inquiry’s evidence-gathering process.
Addressing a media briefing held on Tuesday (12), Ranawaka said the JVP’s media unit under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had shared images of opposition MPs — including S.M. Marikkar, Ajith P. Perera, D.V. Chanaka and himself — on social media urging them to provide evidence to the commission.
“We will not appear before this commission, which is overseen by Tilvin Silva, a person not voted for by the people or a public representative,” Ranawaka said, referring to the JVP General Secretary. He added that the commission “already possesses sufficient documentation” and that opposition MPs had “no reason to appear” before it, Newswire reported.
The stance is a sharp reversal for Ranawaka, who had earlier publicly pledged to release the Auditor General’s audit report on the 2009 coal procurement and challenged the government to disclose all related documentation. His refusal complicates the commission’s effort to bring multi-party testimony into a probe that opposition figures have argued is politically driven.
The commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Kulatunga with Court of Appeal and High Court judges alongside, is examining all coal imports since the inception of the Norochcholai power plant. Earlier this week, the commission summoned the Auditor General and Energy Ministry Secretary for the first time in the inquiry — the most senior ministry-level summons yet issued.
Source: Newswire — Patali Champika says he will not appear before Coal Inquiry Commission.
