KABUL - The U.S. has terminated funding for a $20 million project to develop a Pakistani version of "Sesame Street" in response to alleged corruption by the local puppet theater working on the initiative, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The organization in question is the Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, a group based in the city of Lahore that jointly developed the show with Sesame Workshop, the creator of the American series.
The show, which includes Elmo and a host of new Pakistani characters, first aired at the end of last year and was supposed to run for at least three seasons. The U.S. hoped it would improve education in a country where one-third of primary-school-age children are not in class. It was also meant to increase tolerance.
The U.S. cut off funding for the project and launched an investigation after receiving what it deemed to be credible allegations of fraud and abuse on a telephone hotline set up by the U.S. Agency for International Development in Pakistan, said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
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"So rather than to continue to throw good money after bad, we thought it was prudent to cut off this program and wait for the results of the investigation," Toner told reporters in Washington.
Some $6.7 million had been spent on the show so far out of a total of $20 million that was planned, he said.
The U.S. did not provide details about the alleged corruption. The Pakistan Today newspaper reported Tuesday that the graft included using the U.S. money to pay off old debts and awarding lucrative contracts to relatives.
Faizaan Peerzada, the chief operating officer of Rafi Peer and one of several family members who run the organization, denied corruption allegations. He claimed the U.S. ended its participation because of the lack of available funds.
"Rafi Peer is proud of its association with the project and of the quality of children's educational television programming created within Pakistan as a result," the group said in a statement.
If the corruption allegations prove true, it would be an embarrassment for the multibillion-dollar U.S. aid program in Pakistan, which some analysts have criticized for not achieving results.
Rafi Peer plans to seek alternative sources of funding to continue producing the local version of "Sesame Street." The original goal was to reach 3 million children, 1 million of whom are out of school.
