July Museum Project Under Farooki’s Shadow of Allegations

Allegations of procedural irregularities and financial mismanagement have surfaced in connection with the July Uprising Memorial Museum project, which was overseen during the tenure of former cultural affairs adviser Mustafa Sarwar Farooki. The project, valued at several hundred crore taka, has not yet been completed, despite an earlier plan to inaugurate it in August last year. Construction work is still reported to be ongoing.

The controversy primarily concerns the recruitment process for the museum, which includes key posts such as museum manager, deputy director, curator, and deputy curator, among a total of at least 96 positions. A recruitment circular was issued on 28 January, allowing only a seven-day application period until 4 February. However, allegations suggest that oral examinations began on 26 January, prior to the official publication of the advertisement.

According to CCTV footage cited in the report, interviews were conducted at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium and Cine Complex of the Bangladesh National Museum between 5 pm and midnight from 26 to 31 January. More than one hundred candidates are said to have participated in these sessions, with reports describing continuous entry and exit of applicants carrying documents and files.

A candidate identified as Md Faruk stated that he attended an interview on 27 January for an accounts officer position. He said the interview lasted until around 9 pm and that no written examination had been conducted. He also claimed that candidates were later asked to apply formally after the circular was issued, with assurances that appointments would follow after completion of the process.

Another unnamed applicant alleged that informal financial demands were made in exchange for recruitment, with amounts reportedly reaching up to 1.3 million taka per candidate. The same source referred to a middleman linked to the Bangladesh National Museum’s administrative system.

A museum staff member confirmed that interview sessions were held after official working hours over several consecutive days, with an estimated 20 to 25 candidates attending daily.

A cultural affairs ministry official stated that initial plans for 300 to 400 staff were reduced to 107 following objections from the Finance Division and the Public Administration Ministry. The official also noted administrative restructuring involving Tanjim Ibn Wahab, who served as Director General of the Bangladesh National Museum and was later given additional charge of the July Museum.

The report further alleges irregularities in procurement, including overlapping use of funds from both the July Museum allocation and the national museum budget, as well as procurement without formal tender procedures. It also claims that certain expenditures were inflated beyond prevailing market rates.

Reported Expenditure Overview

A restaurant named “Adda Provorna” in Mohammadpur, cited in the report as a vendor for official catering, stated that it does not have the capacity to handle orders of the scale reflected in the billing claims. Representatives of the establishment said that while small daily orders had been received in the past, the reported figures did not correspond with their operational capacity.

The Director General of the museum, Tanjim Ibn Wahab, rejected allegations of irregularities, stating that no formal recruitment process had been initiated and that earlier activities were limited to volunteer coordination. He described the claims as inaccurate.

Similarly, the Secretary of the Bangladesh National Museum stated that recruitment procedures are overseen by a seven-member committee and denied any financial transactions linked to appointments. Attempts to obtain a response from Mustafa Sarwar Farooki were unsuccessful, according to the report.