National Gallery of Australia to return ‘stolen statue’ to India

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) is preparing to return a bronze statue that was allegedly looted from a temple in India.

On Wednesday (26th March) the Attorney-General's Department issued a statement explaining that NGA had voluntarily removed the statue, of a Dancing Shiva, from display.

Indian police believe the 900-year-old statue was stolen as part of a multi-million-dollar scam by New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor.

On Monday, the ABC’s Four Corners broadcast an interview with Attorney-General and Minister for the Arts Senator George Brandis, strongly criticised the NGA for its decision to buy the artefact.

The statue has been on display at the Canberra gallery since 2008, when it was sold to the gallery by Kapoor for $5.6 million.

Kapoor is currently on trial in India for allegedly ordering the theft of 28 artefacts from two Indian temples.

Meanwhile, during legal action launched by the NGA in New York, USA, a former office manager at Kapoor's New York art gallery has admitted that the Shiva was stolen.

The NGA has maintained it ran appropriate provenance checks before buying the statue and had said it would continue to display the piece while investigations continued.

However, the Indian Government has formally requested the statue's return and it will now be returned to India in line with Australia's international obligations.

The statement from the Attorney-General's Department explained "the request states that the statue was exported from India in contravention of cultural property laws, namely India's antiquity and art treasures act 1972.

"Australia is a signatory to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

"Our obligations are implemented through the PMCH Act and the Indian government’s request is being actioned in accordance with that Act."

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