US pulls plug on funding of Pakistan Sesame Street version over corruption allegations

Washington, June 6 (ANI): The United States has terminated the 20 million dollars funding for the Pakistani version of the children's TV series Sesame Street.

The move came after a Pakistani newspaper reported allegations of corruption by the local puppet theatre working on the initiative.

The organisation under the scanner is the Rafi Peer Theater Workshop, a group based in Lahore that jointly developed the show with Sesame Workshop, the creator of the American series.

US Embassy spokesman Robert Raines said the US Agency for International Development terminated funding for the programme, but declined to provide further details, The Telegraph reports.

The Pakistan Today newspaper cited unnamed sources, as saying that the cause was 'severe' financial irregularities at Rafi Peer.

The sources claimed that officials at Rafi Peer allegedly used the US money to pay off old debts and awarded lucrative contracts to relatives, the sources claimed.

Meanwhile, Faizaan Peerzada, the chief operating officer of Rafi Peer and one of several family members who run the organisation, denied the corruption allegations.

He said the US ended its participation after providing 10 million dollars because of the lack of additional available funds.

Sesame Street was first aired at the end of last year and was supposed to run for at least three series.

The US hoped it would improve education in a country where one-third of primary school-age children are not in class, and would increase tolerance among people at a time when the influence of radical views is growing. (ANI)