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Searches Continue in BBC Offices

Searches Continue in BBC Offices

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Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The Income Tax sleuths continued searches at the BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai for the second day on Wednesday as the opposition slammed the Narendra Modi government’s vendetta politics of harassing the media houses critical of the ruling dispensation.

Even as the central government attempted to claim that the “survey” by the income tax officials of the UK’s national broadcaster was not linked with the media house recently releasing a two-part documentary on the role of Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat during the 2002 communal riots, the tax department sources admitted that the searches were launched only to see if the BBC was involved in any wrong doings.

Tax authorities are claimed to be investigating allegations of illegal tax benefits, tax evasion, “significant” diversion of profits and non-compliance of rules by the BBC. The BBC had been served notices in the past but had been “defiant and non-compliant”, sources claimed.

“Surveys are conducted to ascertain these irregularities. Only after completion of survey, it would be ascertained whether there are any deliberate irregularities or not,” an official said unwilling to be named.

The survey is being carried out to investigate issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies, officials had said on Tuesday. While there has been no official statement from the Income Tax department on the action, the BBC has said it was cooperating with the authorities.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), a part of the UK ministry of information and broadcasting, in an email to its employees in India on Wednesday urged all but its broadcast department to work from home and asked the staff members to cooperate with the search party. “Employees can refrain from answering questions on personal income if asked so. They should answer other salary-related queries,” said the broadcaster, advising its staff to cooperate with the officials and “answer questions comprehensively”.

Tax officials questioned the senior management of the BBC and searched staff computers using the keywords “tax”, “bills” and “black money” with the sleuths understood to be making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data of the organisation, sources said. Mobile phones of some senior employees have been cloned, sources said.

The tax officials are speaking to staffers of the BBC in the finance and some other departments even as other staffers and journalists were allowed to leave Tuesday night. Some computer peripherals and mobile phones were cloned as part of the operation, officials had said.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said the survey was “not a sudden decision” and was part of a process after the BBC “failed to respond” to various questions raised by tax officials apparently trying to de-link the tax “surveys” from the controversial documentary, “India: The Modi Question.”

Opposition parties and press groups have, however, linked the searches to the BBC’s two-part series which takes a critical view of Modi’s handling of the sectarian riots that swept Gujarat in 2002, when he was Chief Minister.

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) expressed “deep anguish” and said such tax “surveys” lead to consistent harassment of the media, which also “impact the reputation and image of India as the world’s largest democracy”.

The US said it was “aware of the survey” but was “not in a position to offer judgement.” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: “We support the importance of free press around the world. We continue to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of religion or belief as human rights that contribute to strengthening democracies around the world. It has strengthened this democracy here in this country. It has strengthened India’s democracy.” There has been no official response from the UK.

The government has slammed the BBC documentary as “hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage.” The Centre last month used emergency powers under IT Rules to block YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary. Protesting censorship, opposition leaders and students organised public screenings of the documentary, which led to many campus clashes.

The ruling BJP tore into the BBC for what it called “venomous, shallow and agenda-driven reporting” and said the Income Tax department should be allowed to do its job. “If they have not done anything illegal, then what’s the worry?” said BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia.

The action has sparked a sharp political debate with the opposition questioning the timing of the move. Terming the I-T survey at BBC offices as “political vendetta” of the BJP government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the action against the British broadcaster has affected the freedom of press. “I-T surveys on BBC is very unfortunate…one day, there’ll be no media in India,” Banerjee said.

Hitting out at the BJP-ruled central government, the Congress had condemned the surveys and said the move shows that the Modi government was scared of criticism. “The IT raid at the BBC’s offices reeks of desperation and shows that the Modi government is scared of criticism. We condemn these intimidation tactics in the harshest terms. This undemocratic and dictatorial attitude cannot go on any longer,” AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said.

The CPM and the BSP too slammed the government. “The IT, ED and the CBI have not reached Adani’s office but a team of the IT department is searching the Delhi office of the BBC. It is an attack on whatever is left of the press freedom in India. India ranks 150th in the world press freedom. It is clear that India will now slip further,” BSP MP Kunwar Danish Ali said.

The Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera hit out at the central government over the surveys that continued on Wednesday. Highlighting the plummeting status of India’s Press freedom index which has now dipped to 150th as of 2022, Khera said, “India is the mother of democracy but why is India’s Prime Minister ‘Father of hypocrisy’ What will you get after sending IT-D to BBC office? Will his image get better? In the world’s press freedom index, India’s situation is dire compared to our neighbouring countries. So, what happened yesterday will it ever help the rankings?” he asked.

The party condemned the surveys and said they were in favour of the statements that the Editors Guild of India had issued while affirming the Congress will continue to protest against the disruptions that is being brought to the fourth pillar of democracy.

“The PM celebrates little known awards like the Philip Kotler Award which are never heard before and he craves for endorsements from foreign countries but when a media house exposes his own house, he first bans that documentary, then goes unleashing his agencies on these organisations, calls them part of a conspiracy hatched abroad against him,” Khera told media persons.

“BBC does not have a profit-loss revenue model. All BBC subscribers submit license fees to post offices in the United Kingdom, then the post office hands over the license fees to the BBC and that’s how the employees are paid and they do not depend on ads so how does India’s income tax department come into the picture? If Hindenburg had an office here, they too would have been surveyed by now. He (PM) made a mockery of the country. We are not a banana republic and we will never be”, Khera said.

 

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