Opposition members of Parliament's Commerce select committee want to subpoena Solid Energy's former chief executive Don Elder to appear before it.
Dr Elder announced his resignation on 4 February after 12 years at the helm of the coal company.
Mark Ford, chairman of the struggling State-owned company, appeared before the committee on Thursday.
However, he was unable to answer most questions about what went wrong at Solid Energy, which is $389 million in debt.
Labour's State-owned Enterprises spokesperson Clayton Cosgrove told Mr Ford that is not good enough.
"There is no one here - yourself included - because you weren't on board. Your acting chief executive who signed off was responsible, was in the room, briefed ministers, etcetera etcetera and is directly accountable for the decisions they make.
"So it puts us in a very invidious situation and yourself, with due respect, that we are asking you to look back and your colleagues at a time when they were not responsible."
Clayton Cosgrove said Dr Elder needs to appear before the committee to answer questions.
Solid Energy chairman Mark Ford, centre, with acting chief executive Garry Diack, left at the select committee. Photo: RNZ
