AG Gamini Wijesinghe was summoned to appear before COPE last Wednesday, but as he was on leave, Jayantha Ratnayake and H.A. Ananda appeared on his behalf.

The AAG should have been there to represent the AG in his absence, but has got the two juniors to attend, AG’s Department sources say.

History of the coal imports audit scam

Over a conflict of interests, no audit had taken place into coal imports to the CEB between 2009 and 2014.

That is because AAG Chula’s wife Priyambali Bandutileke is the chief internal auditor at the CEB.

Even during the period she was in the AG’s Department, the CEB had entrusted her the task of its auditing work.

Then, she got a transfer to the CEB in breach of audit regulations.

All these are serious matters of concern for ethics too.

The AAG is the auditing authority of the CEB and other statutory boards.

As a result, even incumbent AG Wijesinghe cannot carry out a proper audit into the coal imports, and there are allegations of shortcomings in his reports into the matter.

On behalf of Chula, a personal assistant close to him is carrying out the CEB audit.

Priyambali is the daughter of the late author Malalgoda Bandutilake.

As this couple holds top positions in the two state institutions, massive frauds had been committed by the successive ministers in charge of power and energy portfolios.

Several attempts to reach Chula over the phone for a comment failed, he did not answer the calls.