Sri Lanka’s Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody resigns amid coal supply scandal

Sri Lanka’s energy minister has resigned amid an investigation into a multimillion-dollar contract that led to the importation of tonnes of substandard coal, worsening the country’s national energy crisis.

Kumara Jayakody stepped down on Friday after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced a special commission of inquiry. The probe will investigate a supply deal with an Indian company for the Chinese-built Lakvijaya coal power plant—Sri Lanka’s only facility of its kind. Following Jayakody’s departure, the Energy Ministry’s secretary, Udayanga Hemapala, also resigned.

Sri Lanka’s national utilities regulator, government auditors, and a parliamentary committee previously found that the coal imported under the agreement failed to meet the quality parameters—including the necessary calorific value—required to generate sufficient electricity at the Lakvijaya plant.

The president’s office stated that the newly announced inquiry will determine “whether any irregularities or illegal activities occurred in the importation of coal and the generation of electricity.” Led by a Supreme Court judge, the commission has six months to deliver its findings.

In a statement, Jayakody said he was stepping aside to allow the inquiry to proceed unhindered and would accept its conclusions.

A longtime friend and political ally of President Dissanayake, Jayakody survived an opposition no-confidence motion in parliament earlier this month. The motion accused him of failing to discharge his “primary duty” to ensure the purchase of high-quality coal for the facility. Additionally, he was indicted in late March for alleged bribery in a separate case related to his former role as procurement manager for Ceylon Fertiliser Company Ltd.

The coal procurement controversy has dented the outsider image of Dissanayake’s leftist government, which swept to power in a 2024 landslide fueled by public disgust with the corruption of the country’s traditional political elite.