Rāvaya ‘Staff-Shareholders’ Clueless About Ivan’s Rs 5 Million Heist

July 2, 2015

None of the Ravaya staff shareholders apart from the Directors who are said to represent them, are aware that Victor Ivan was paid Rs 5 million from funds collected from the public, Colombo Telegraph learns.

Victor Ivan

Colombo Telegraph interviewed several key members of the Ravaya staff and they all said they were unaware of this transaction.

For example, when contacted by Colombo Telegraph, its News Editor Lasantha Ruhunage said he was not aware of any such transaction. When asked whether he would say that on record, Ruhunage said he needed a “half an hour” to prepare a statement on the matter.

When we tried to contact him after half an hour, Ruhunage’s did not pick up the phone. Then, the Colombo Telegraph contacted another staff member of Ravaya and asked him to hand over the phone to Ruhunage. At that point, the News Editor of Ravaya said he was busy and hung up the phone.

Ruhunage is a stalwart of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association and the Free Media Movement.

Efforts to contact the Editor of Ravaya, K.W. Janaranjana, have proved unsuccessful.

Ravaya, which has been a strong advocate of accountability and transparency, never disclosed in its appeal to supporters that Rs 5 Million of the funds collected would be given to any individual.

Meanwhile on the 19th of June, when Colombo Telegraph asked Kusal Perera (a key member of Ravaya Solidarity) about this matter, i.e. before we first published the story, he asked us to contact Ivan about what stakeholders can do with their stakes.Read More