Four Corners: Mar 24

On Monday’s Four Corners Quentin McDermott reports on a rare Indian artefact that is at the centre of a scandal, with suggestions it was stolen from India.

It’s a bronze statue of the Hindu deity, Shiva. It’s a rare art gem, that cost $5 million and takes pride of place in the National Gallery in Canberra. There’s just one problem: a growing body of evidence that says it was stolen from a temple in India.

Worse still, there’s evidence the Shiva bought by the National Gallery is just one of many objects smuggled through an international network and sold to galleries here and around the globe.

The man at the centre of this scandal is art dealer Subash Kapoor. Facing court in India and on the wanted list in the United States, he didn’t just sell one artwork of dubious origin to Australia – he sold several.

“His organisation ranks right up there with narcotic trafficking cartels, with human smuggling organisations, in the type of sophistication and elaborate planning.” – Police Source

This week Four Corners investigates what is now shaping up as one of Australia’s biggest art scandals – a scandal that’s shaken the National Gallery and dented the reputation of some of the country’s top art curators and gallery administrators.

Talking with the National Gallery, police investigators from India to the USA, art experts and the man in everyone’s sights, Subash Kapoor, Four Corners reporter Quentin McDermott reveals how Kapoor gained the trust of two of Australia’s foremost art galleries, and how millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money is now at risk. As one art critic told the program:

“To me it’s extraordinary that museum professionals can acquire Indian objects or Indian artefacts in this day and age and not seriously check the provenance.”

The program asks why, with so much evidence pointing to the art work being stolen, the Shiva hasn’t been returned to India?

The Dancing Shiva highlights the ongoing failure by many galleries to conclusively establish provenances relating to antiquities and throws the spotlight on the ethics of trading in objects which carry deep religious and cultural significance in their country of origin.

Monday 24th March at 8.30pm on ABC1.