Fully Cooperating To Resolve Situation, Says BBC Amid Income Tax Surveys At Offices

The BBC has said that it is cooperating with the Income Tax department to resolve all issues. The I-T surveys began on Tuesday over alleged non-compliance to rules and diversion of profits by BBC.

As the Income Tax department conducted surveys at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday, the media organisation said that it was fully cooperating to resolve the situation.

"We are fully cooperating. We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible," BBC tweeted. The BBC did not give any detail about the I-T department's action but sources said that employees were prevented from entering the offices. All BBC employees have now been asked to work from home until further notice.

The Income Tax department conducted surveys at the Delhi and Mumbai offices of the British broadcaster, alleging "deliberate non-compliance with transfer pricing rules and its vast diversion of profits" by BBC. "In the case of the BBC, there has been persistent non-compliance with the above-mentioned rules for years. As a result of the same, several notices have been issued to the BBC. However, the BBC has been continuously defiant and non-compliant and has been significantly diverted their profits," the department said in a statement.

A top-ranking British government official said that they are closely monitoring reports of tax surveys conducted at the offices of the BBC.

The I-T department's action comes barely a few weeks after the BBC released a documentary on PM Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots. The documentary, titled 'India: The Modi Question' was banned almost immediately by the government. However, online archived versions of the documentary were shared by various Opposition leaders, who said that they would stand against "censorship".

Reacting to the I-T department surveys, the Congress said that it was an undeclared Emergency. Telangana IT minister KT Rama Rao also expressed surprise over the IT survey. He tweeted, "Agencies like IT, CBI and ED have become laughing stock for turning into BJP’s biggest puppets. What next? ED raids on Hindenberg or a hostile takeover attempt?" he asked in his tweet.

The BJP, however, denied the allegations and said that the Income Tax department had lawfully carried out raids at the BBC office. "The IT department is no longer the 'caged parrot' as the Supreme Court had said about government institutions during the Congress rule," BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said.