Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe has dismissed parts of the Auditor General’s report on the controversial coal import incident, saying certain facts presented “cannot be accepted.”

Speaking during a televised debate, the Minister stressed that the report does not establish fraud but only outlines possible scenarios. 

He reiterated the government’s position that no fraud had occurred in the procurement process.

“The government’s position is that no fraud has taken place in this incident. That is what I, and our ministers, are saying,” Samarasinghe said, adding that a no‑confidence motion in Parliament under such circumstances was unwarranted.

He further argued that the Auditor General should have clearly identified any lapses in procurement procedures. 

“If that is the case, the Auditor General should say in the report: here is the Procurement Commission, or under procurement conditions, this registration did not take place. Therefore, it should be said this is not relevant,” he noted.

Highlighting inconsistencies, Samarasinghe pointed to issues with deposits and documentation. 

“The submission in the Auditor General’s report is wrong. There is a letter written to the bidders. When this Auditor General’s report was presented, there were 4,980 deposits made, so why put only 20 again? At that time, he took the document. When the transaction happened, only then did he know that 20 were missing. Saying the money was not properly paid is being created because of this issue,” he said. 

The Minister concluded that while he does not claim the entire report is wrong, “some points, some sections in it, are wrong.” (Newswire)

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A special audit report by the National Audit Office has revealed several serious issues in the coal procurement process for the Lakvijaya Power Plant during the 2025/2026 season, including financial losses, procurement irregularities, and quality concerns.

Here are seven key findings from the audit report:

1. Unregistered supplier selected for major tender

The long-term coal supply tender for 2025/2026 was awarded to India-based Trident Chemphar Limited, despite the company not having completed registration requirements at the time bids were called.

2. Coal testing conducted using questionable laboratory

Coal testing at the loading port was carried out using a laboratory whose licence had expired, raising concerns over the reliability of quality reports for 12 shipments.

3. Rs. 2.23 billion estimated loss due to poor coal quality

The audit estimated an additional consumption-related loss of approximately Rs. 2,237.7 million due to lower-quality coal requiring higher usage to generate electricity.

4. Additional electricity required due to reduced power generation

Because coal quality prevented full generation capacity, authorities had to consider alternative power sources, with additional energy requirements estimated at up to 114 million kWh under certain conditions.

5. Possible penalty of Rs. 2.33 billion

The audit noted that penalties amounting to approximately Rs. 2,332.5 million could potentially be recovered from the supplier due to performance shortfalls.

6. Failure to import coal during available 40-day window

Authorities failed to procure coal during a 40-day window between November and December 2025 when imports were possible, contributing to supply constraints.

7. Emergency procurement from lower-quality supplier

Due to delays, an emergency purchase of 300,000 metric tons of coal had to be made from a supplier that had previously failed to meet required quality standards.

The audit warned that these issues could negatively affect continuous electricity supply and recommended strengthening procurement controls and quality verification processes.

The Lakvijaya Power Plant contributes between 30% and 40% of Sri Lanka’s national electricity supply, making coal procurement critical for uninterrupted power generation. (Newswire)

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The Auditor General’s report on coal imports was presented to Parliament on Tuesday (07). 

Leader of the House Minister Bimal Ratnayake tabled the report at the commencement of proceedings. 

At the same time, Opposition MPs lodged a complaint with Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne that the report had not been distributed to Members of Parliament. The Speaker responded that it was the Secretariat’s responsibility to provide the report to MPs.

The special audit report, requested by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE), examines the coal purchasing process by Lanka Coal Company for the Lakvijaya Power Plant and procurement for the 2025/2026 season. The Auditor General revealed that the laboratory issuing reports at the loading port for the controversial supplier Trident Company had its license cancelled.

The report further disclosed that at the time advertisements were published calling for tenders, Trident Company had not completed its registration, yet it was awarded the tender. Three other suppliers who had not confirmed registration were also allowed to submit bids.

Coal purchased for the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant is tested at both loading and unloading ports. At the loading port, Mitra SK South Africa was appointed, but lacking accreditation, the task was handed to PT Mitra SK Analisa Testama Samarinda, an Indonesian company whose license had been cancelled as of December 29, 2025. The audit did not confirm whether the license was renewed by March 31, 2026. All 12 shipment reports issued at the loading port were found to lack accreditation.

The report also noted discrepancies between loading port reports and data from the plant’s main control unit, with Lanka Coal Company failing to use available alternatives to verify the reports. It highlighted that between November 13 and December 30, 2025, no coal shipments were brought to Sri Lanka despite the need for maximum procurement during that period.

Due to insufficient shipments, an emergency procurement was made on March 18 this year, selecting Taranjot Resource Pvt Ltd. The Auditor General revealed that this company had failed within the past 36 months to supply coal with the required calorific value of 5,900 kcal or above to the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant.

The report warns that failure to import coal on time and reliance on suppliers with questionable standards could adversely affect the continuous supply of electricity at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant. 

The Auditor General’s Report : https://www.newswire.lk/pdf/auditor_general_report_coal_imports.pdf (Newswire)

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Samudika Jayaratne officially assumed duties today (Feb. 5) as the 42nd Auditor General of Sri Lanka, becoming the first woman to hold the position.

Her appointment was unanimously approved by the Constitutional Council (CC) on Feb. 3.

The decision was made during a meeting held at the Parliament Complex, chaired by Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne.

Jayaratne, who previously served as Senior Deputy Auditor General, was appointed following a prolonged vacancy in the post since April 8, 2025, after the retirement of former Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne.

Dharmapala Gammanpila had served in an acting capacity until December 5, 2025.

Several earlier nominations for the position were rejected by the Constitutional Council before Jayaratne’s name received unanimous approval. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka’s senior Buddhist prelates have urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to appoint the most suitable senior official from the Auditor General’s Department to the post of Auditor General, warning against selecting an external candidate.

In a letter sent to the President, the chief prelates of the three main Buddhist chapters said Dharmapala Gammanpila, a senior officer with long experience in the department, would be an appropriate choice for the post and called for an urgent appointment.

The position has remained vacant since former Auditor General W.P.C. Wickramaratne retired in April 2025. Gammanpila was appointed to cover duties on an acting basis, but his tenure ended in December 2025. Several nominees proposed by the President to the Constitutional Council have reportedly been rejected.

The delay in appointing an Auditor General has been raised repeatedly by opposition parties, who have blamed the government for failing to fill the key post overseeing public finance and accountability.

The prelates said delays in the appointment have led to public debate over state financial oversight and could fuel negative perceptions about the government’s economic programme.

They stressed that the Auditor General’s post is crucial for ensuring transparency in public finance and said appointing someone outside the department would be inappropriate. (Newswire)

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The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has raised concerns about the emerging institutional deadlock between the President and the Constitutional Council in respect of the appointment of the Auditor General. 

Sri Lanka has not had a permanent Auditor General since the retirement of Chulantha Wickramaratne in April 2025. In the period since, according to reports, the President has made four nominations to the post, which have all been rejected by the Constitutional Council.

Issuing a statement, the CPA stressed that the office of Auditor General is pivotal to the institutional framework of public financial integrity established by Articles 153 and 154 of the Constitution and the National Audit Act No 19 of 2018 (as amended by National Audit (Amendment) Act No 19 of 2025). 

The absence of a stable office-holder in the post for a period of over nine months causes serious concerns about the functionality of our system of public financial accountability. The absence of an Auditor General not only disrupts the normal processes of the national audit, but it also affects the capacity of Parliament and its committees on public accounts and public enterprises to carry out their constitutionally fundamental scrutiny and accountability functions. This concern is heightened in the context of the need for rigorous supervision of public expenditures, and methods of reception and allocation involved in rebuilding efforts in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, the organization further said.

According to CPA, the function of the Constitutional Council is to ensure the President’s nominations to the office of Auditor General meet the formal standards of independence, integrity, and professional competence established by the Constitution and the National Audit Act. 

The Constitutional Council is a collegiate body composed of cross-party political representatives and independent civil society representatives appointed, except for the ex officio members, predominantly by consensus. Its composition is designed to protect its decision-making from being hijacked by either the Government or the Opposition for partisan purposes. The expectation of respect for the decisions of the Constitutional Council by the President is not only central to the de-politicisation logic that underpins our ‘fourth branch’ institutions. It is also a rare but significant corrective to the overcentralisation of power and authority in the person and office of the President in our semi-presidential system of government. In view of its consensual and inclusive composition and its decentralised procedures of decision-making, the public can assume with a high degree of confidence that the Constitutional Council’s repeated rejections of the President’s nominations to fill the vacancy in the office of Auditor General were because such nominations did not meet the required constitutional and statutory standards, it said.

The CPA further noted that per the existing system, the constitutional and moral responsibility for ensuring a successful and expeditious appointment, by securing the mandatory approval of the Constitutional Council, to a vacancy in the office of Auditor General lies squarely with the President. 

The organization pointed out that the President’s failure to secure the approval of the Constitutional Council through four unsuccessful nomination attempts over the course of nine months suggests a lack of constitutional competence in the advice he has so far received in the making of such nominations. If deadlock persists, it may even give rise to suspicions of bad faith on the part of the President.

This would be a regrettable outcome, not only for the quality of our public financial governance, but also for the reputation of a President elected on an explicit mandate to implement a ‘system change’ towards greater transparency and accountability in our culture of governance, and whose official biography proudly proclaims that in 2001 he “played a pivotal role in the adoption of the [Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution]” which first established the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions. (Newswire)

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The government’s failure to appoint a suitable Auditor General for the past eight months is a deliberate attempt to conceal corruption, MP Namal Rajapaksa charged yesterday.

Rajapaksa alleged that the government is avoiding the appointment of an independent Auditor General because such an official would expose irregular dealings, including illegal sugar imports, the unlawful release of 323 containers from the port, and the importation of substandard medicines. 

He claimed that government leaders are instead making shameless efforts to install a loyalist in the post after their earlier attempt was blocked by the National Constitutional Council.

Highlighting the wider impact, Rajapaksa warned that this delay could jeopardize Sri Lanka’s access to international loans and aid from institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Asian Development Bank, since donor agencies require proper auditing mechanisms.

“No country or organization will provide assistance to a nation without an Auditor General in place,” he stressed, urging the government to recognize the grave danger of its actions. (Newswire)

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Former MP Udaya Gammanpila has alleged that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been avoiding the appointment of the Auditor General until the end of the term of three independent members of the Constitutional Council on 18 January 2026.

In a statement, Gammanpila said it was obvious that he wants to appoint the auditor general of his choice with the support of the Constitutional Council.  

Gammanpila further alleged that the President intends to command the majority of the Constitutional Council after appointing his henchmen as independent members of the Council.  

He said, however, there is a golden opportunity for the Leader of the Opposition to defeat this grand conspiracy.   

“According to Article 41E, the members of the Constitutional Council shall continue in office until assumption of the office by the new members, notwithstanding the expiration of their terms. If the Leader of the Opposition agrees to withdraw from the established practice and follow the Constitution to the dot, we can defeat the conspiracy of the President.

“According to Article 41A(1)(e)(iii) of the Constitution, three independent persons shall be nominated by agreement of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. However, established practice was that only one name was jointly agreed upon by them, and one name each was nominated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition out of the applicants.  If the Leader of the Opposition withdraws from this practice and demands that all three names must be jointly proposed by both, he can ensure that truly independent and impartial persons would be appointed to the Constitutional Council,” Gammanpila said. 

Udaya Gammanpila further noted that unless the Leader of the Opposition agrees to this proposal, the Prime Minister would nominate an NPP supporter to the council, and thereby the President can politicize the entire State machinery by appointing superior court judges, auditor general, attorney general and members of independent commissions of his choice. (Newswire)

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Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chairman, MP Harsha de Silva, has appealed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, seeking to resolve the serious matter of Sri Lanka operating without the constitutionally mandated head of the National Audit Office. 

In a 06-point letter to the President, MP de Silva said an Auditor General must be appointed urgently in the backdrop of the current disaster situation in Sri Lanka. 

“Given the large number of transactions taking place now with Cyclone Ditwah reconstruction and the yet to be legally established Rebuilding SriLanka Fund, an Auditor General must be appointed urgently,” he pointed out in a statement on ‘X’. (Newswire)

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Former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Ambika Satkunanathan, has questioned Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) MP Sivagnanam Shritharan’s move to vote in favour of appointing a serving army officer as Auditor General

“Shritharan of ITAK, a member of the Constitutional Council, voted in favour of appointing serving army officer Rajasinghe as Auditor General. If this is true, MP Shritharan must explain to the Tamil people the reason for his vote,” Ambika Satkunanathan said in a post on ‘X’.

She further said that as a representative of the Tamil ppl, and if the news report was true, voting for a serving army officer calls into question everything the MP has publicly said about militarization and its adverse impact on the rights of Tamils. 

“This appointment would have been detrimental to the country because it would have undermined the independence of the office of Auditor General and good governance, and entrenched militarization. Previous AGs found financial waste, mismanagement and possible corruption by the Army. In light of these facts, why would you vote for this person? ‘System change’, this is not,” she added. 

The former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka raised concerns after it was reported that the Constitutional Council (CC) had rejected O.R. Rajasinghe’s name submitted by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to take over as the country’s next Auditor General.

The Council’s decision marks the fourth time in eight months that nominees put forward by the President to serve as Auditor General, either in a permanent or acting capacity, have been rejected.

Rajasinghe is a serving officer of the Sri Lanka Army and a member of the Army’s Audit Division. His name had been submitted to the CC by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya during its meeting held last Wednesday. During the CC meeting, chaired by Speaker Jagath Wickramaratne, only four members voted in support of the President’s nominee, while five voted against.

All three civil society members, along with Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith P. Perera, voted against the nominee. Prime Minister Amarasuriya and House Leader Bimal Rathnayake, along with MPs M. Athambawa and S. Shritharan, voted for the nominee. (Newswire)

#AuditorGeneral

According to the Sunday Times MP @ImShritharan of ITAK, a member of Constitutional Council, voted in favour of appointing serving army officer Ranasinghe as Auditor General. If this is true, MP Shritharan must explain to the Tamil people the reason for his vote. https://t.co/MpWrowmywX pic.twitter.com/DzIsmc0DbD

— Ambika Satkunanathan (@ambikasat) December 21, 2025

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Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), together with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and activists, has expressed serious concern over the continued failure to appoint a permanent Auditor General, leaving the country’s supreme audit institution without stable leadership since April 2025.

In a joint statement, the groups warned that the delay undermines public trust, financial accountability, and robust oversight at a time when these are urgently needed. They stressed that the Auditor General’s office is a cornerstone of democratic governance, tasked with safeguarding public resources by independently auditing government expenditure and ensuring accountability.

The absence of a permanent appointment, they noted, weakens the authority and independence of the National Audit Office, creating space for inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption. This concern is heightened as Sri Lanka responds to the impacts of Cyclone Ditwah, which has triggered emergency relief efforts and the mobilisation of significant public and external funds. Strong oversight, they said, is indispensable to ensure disaster-related resources are managed transparently and reach affected communities.

Since the retirement of the former Auditor General in April, the country has relied on short-term acting appointments. TISL and CSOs cautioned that repeated temporary extensions erode institutional independence and compromise the credibility of audit functions. They also highlighted that the delay comes at the end of the financial year, when public institutions are required to finalise accounts and submit audit reports, making the Auditor General’s role critical.

The statement pointed to political inertia and governance failure in the appointment process, raising questions about the government’s commitment to accountability. It called on the Constitutional Council to act decisively, ensuring that independent offices are filled through transparent, merit-based processes.

TISL and CSOs urged the adoption of clear, publicly articulated criteria for appointments to constitutionally independent offices, grounded in competence, integrity, and independence. They emphasized that restoring the full functioning of the Auditor General’s office is essential to upholding democratic accountability, protecting public resources, and rebuilding public trust in state institutions. (Newswire)

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The National Audit Office Trade Union Collective has requested President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to appoint acting Auditor General G.H.D. Dharmapala as the Auditor General of Sri Lanka. 

In a letter to the President, the Collective pointed out that Dharmapala has been serving in his post for the last seven months and has proven his capability, to which the Speaker of the Parliament, the Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE), and the Committee on Public Accounts bear witness. 

Pointing out that the government has yet to appoint an Auditor General, despite the position being vacant since April 2025, the Collective said it believes Dharmapala was the most suitable candidate for the position. 

As such, the National Audit Office Trade Union Collective has requested the President to appoint Dharmapala as the next Auditor General of Sri Lanka. (Newswire)

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Former Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Karu Jayasuriya, has raised concerns over the National Constitutional Council’s decision to reject the President’s nominee for Auditor-General.

Taking to ‘X’, Jayasuriya said the Constitutional Council is a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s democratic fabric and it was established with cross-party support under the 17th Amendment, including by the President’s own party.  

“As the CC rejects the nominee for Auditor-General, we urge the government to take this matter seriously. At this critical time in our economy, a positive international image and a strong democracy are important to ensure resilience,” he added.

The former Speaker’s comments come amidst reports that the name proposed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for the post of Auditor General did not receive the approval of the Constitutional Council.

Accordingly, the proposal made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to the Constitutional Council to grant a six-month extension to the Acting Auditor General, Mr. G.H.D. Dharmapala has been approved.

The Constitutional Council, which met yesterday, approved the President’s proposal. 

The position has been vacant for 44 days following the retirement of the former Auditor General. 

The opposition has accused President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of appointing an outsider from the Auditor General’s Department for the position. (Newswire)

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Outgoing Auditor General, Chulantha Wickramaratne, says probes into many corruption incidents have revealed the involvement of some state officials. 

Chulantha Wickramaratne yesterday retired after having completed his tenure, serving as the 41st Auditor General of Sri Lanka for 06 years, since 2019.

Speaking to reporters, the outgoing Auditor General said most often politicians are blamed for corruption-related incidents. 

“However, investigations into most cases have found that some state officials are also involved. The signing of cheques and vouchers cannot all be done by politicians alone, but are done by state officials. If we don’t address this soon, we will continue travelling on this same path,” he said. 

Chulantha Wickramaratne further said that a suitable system to address this issue is only possible through the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA). 

“The new COPE and COPA committees are committed to working towards addressing this issue. The Auditor General has a key role to play here. Not only submitting reports, but further steps must be taken to initiate action and impose punishments, where possible,” he added. (Newswire)

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