Ahmed Mukhtar Naqshbandi
ISLAMABAD/ NEW DEHLI: Following searches at the BBC’s offices, Indian tax authorities claim they discovered irregularities in the broadcaster’s accounting books.
The statement, which does not directly mention the BBC, comes after officials conducted a three-day operation against the broadcaster in Delhi and Mumbai. The BBC said it would continue to cooperate with the Indian authorities.
The BBC said it would respond to direct communication from India tax officials.
The allegations from the tax authorities come after the BBC aired a documentary, showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in the Gujrat massacre of 2022, when over 1,000 people mostly Muslims, were killed.
Income Tax Department of India
The Income Tax Department of India announced on Friday that it had conducted an audit “survey” at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of a “prominent international media company” involved in “content in English, Hindi, and various other Indian languages.”
It said income and profits disclosed by the organisation’s units were “not commensurate with the scale of operations in India.”
According to the statement from Indian authorities, the findings “indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances that the group’s foreign entities have not declared as income in India.
Following a three-day search of its offices in India, the BBC said on Thursday that it would continue cooperating with authorities and hoped that the situation would be resolved at the earliest.
The BBC also said that “we are assisting staff, some of whom have been subjected to lengthy questioning or have been required to stay overnight, and that their well-being is our top priority.
Our output has returned to normal, and we remain committed to serving our audiences in India and worldwide.”
The BBC’s documentary on India involving Modi was broadcast only in the UK. The Modi’s government has attempted to stop people from sharing it, describing it as “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage” with a “colonial mindset.”
