Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera is to appoint a one-man committee to ascertain alleged misappropriations at the Ravaya newspaper, headed by senior journalist Victor Ivan. 

The moves comes in the wake of several petitions received by the Minister alleging Ivan had siphoned off money received by the company. Ravaya recently launched a campaign to crowd-source funds for the newspaper saying the newspaper company, which had been in operation for three decades, had run into financial difficulties. 

Many members of the civil society groups and advocates of media freedom rallied around the idea and helped Ravaya secure necessary funds for its continuation. 

The petitioners had asked the Media Minister to intervene in the matter as it was a matter of public interest. 

This also follows the resignation of K.W. Janaranjana from the Editor's post of the weekly newspaper. 

Janaranjana is a prominent member of the Purawesi Balaya organisation which supported the current government at the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections. 

Former Ravaya employee Wimalanath Weeraratne has been appointed as the new Editor of the newspaper and it has been alleged by the newspaper's former employees that Ivan has 'hijacked' the editorial operation of the newspaper by appointing a proxy editor.