Farooki rejects July Museum corruption allegations, calls Ekattor TV report 'disinformation'

Former Cultural Affairs Adviser of the Interim Government Mostofa Sarwar Farooki has rejected allegations of corruption in the implementation of the July Memorial Museum project, describing a recent Ekattor TV investigation as "extreme disinformation" and accusing it of presenting misleading information.

In a written response to fact-checking outlet The Dissent, Farooki addressed allegations raised in an Ekattor TV report aired on July 3 titled, "Nearly 150 crore taka embezzled? An autorickshaw garage found at the address of a documentary production company!"

The report alleged financial irregularities in various activities related to the July Memorial Museum during the tenure of the former interim government, including documentary production, procurement and museum construction.

Rejecting the central allegation, Farooki said the report's headline itself was misleading, arguing that total expenditure on the project stood at approximately 130 crore taka, not 150 crore taka.

He said about 96 crore taka of that amount had been transferred by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to the Ministry of Public Works under a government-to-government (G2G) arrangement for construction work, adding that the report wrongly attributed those expenditures to the National Museum.

Farooki also dismissed the report's suggestion that documentaries commissioned for the museum were produced by a company operating from an autorickshaw garage.

He told The Dissent that the films were made by several established young Bangladeshi filmmakers and that the National Museum had financed 62 pieces of content across 19 themes, while the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy supported separate documentary series on people injured during the July uprising.

The former adviser further disputed the report's claim that each four-to-five-minute documentary cost 27 lakh taka, calling it "a blatant falsehood." He said the National Museum had already provided expenditure records to the reporter showing that no documentary of that length had received such funding.

According to Farooki, the museum was instructed to complete documentary production and museum preparations within a month ahead of July commemorative events, prompting the government to authorize procurement through the Direct Procurement Method (DPM).

He said private investors were approached to finance productions because filmmakers were accustomed to receiving advance payments for commercial work. 

Most declined to participate, he said, before one vendor agreed to finance the productions in return for a service fee of around 7%, which he argued was significantly lower than the 15% to 20% fees typically charged under government tenders.

Addressing questions over the vendor's registered address, Farooki told The Dissent that using a residential address for a trade licence was not unusual, noting that his own production company, Chabial, also lists his father's residence as its permanent registered address despite operating from rented offices over the years.

He also rejected allegations concerning museum construction, saying all civil works were executed by the Public Works Department and that the Ministry of Cultural Affairs merely transferred the approved 96 crore taka budget to the implementing agency.

Farooki denied claims that the National Museum had spent money on constructing the museum's boundary wall, saying museum authorities confirmed that the expenditure had been borne entirely by the Public Works Department.

He also defended the commissioning of sculptor Tejesh Haldar Josh, describing him as one of Bangladesh's leading artists and saying international visitors had praised the museum's installations.

Farooki argued that critics had ignored the project's rapid implementation despite significant challenges, noting that the museum had reached near completion within a year, unlike many government projects that experience repeated delays and cost overruns.

Farooki alleged that the July Memorial Museum and documentaries produced under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs had become targets of a coordinated propaganda campaign, saying the motives behind those efforts would be revealed "when the time comes."

The Dissent said it is independently verifying the allegations raised in the Ekattor TV report and will publish a fact-check after completing its review.