The BBC has not yet commented on the allegations.
New Delhi:
India’s Income Tax Department has claimed it has uncovered irregularities in the accounts of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) following a three-day investigation widely criticized in retaliation for an unflattering documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In allegations aired weeks after the British public broadcaster aired the two-part series on PM Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Income Tax Department said that the revenues and profits disclosed by the various units of the BBC were “not were commensurate with the scale of operations in the Indies”.
Without citing the BBC, it said the department had collected “various evidence (sic)” and was still reviewing employee statements, digital files and documents from a “leading international media company”.
The findings “indicate that no tax has been paid on certain remittances not declared as income in India by the group’s foreign entities,” the tax authority claimed.
“The investigation also revealed several discrepancies and inconsistencies regarding transfer pricing documentation,” it claimed, referring to the practices whereby one branch of a multinational company pays the other for goods, services or intellectual property.
The department also accused BBC staffers of employing “procrastination tactics” or attempts to delay an investigation.
“Despite such a stance taken by the group, the survey was conducted in a manner that facilitated mainstream media/channel activity,” the IRS said in a statement.
The BBC has not yet commented on the allegations. Last night, after the 60-hour investigation concluded at its offices in Delhi and Mumbai, the company said it will continue to cooperate with authorities.
It said the priority was now to support its staff, many of whom had to stay overnight in the offices during the investigations, and it will continue to report without “fear or favour”.
The BBC documentary was not broadcast in India but provoked a furious response from the government, which denounced the content as “hostile propaganda”.
Authorities used information technology laws to prohibit sharing links to the program to stop its spread on social media.
Gaurav Bhatia, a spokesman for the BJP, called the BBC the “most corrupt” company and said the investigation was lawful and the timing had nothing to do with the airing of the documentary.
“If you have followed the law of the land, if you have nothing to hide, why be afraid of an action that is in accordance with the law,” he told reporters.
At least four Indian outlets reporting critical of the government have been raided by tax officials or financial crime investigators in the past two years, according to the prominent New York-based Watchdog Commission to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
India has also dropped 10 places to 150th on the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders since Prime Minister Modi took office in 2014.
Journalists have long faced harassment, legal threats and harassment for their work in India, but according to civil society organization Free Speech Collective, more criminal cases are being filed against reporters than ever.
Criminal charges were filed against a record 67 journalists in 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, it said.
