New Delhi: BBC’s problems do not seem to be reducing. After the survey of the Income Tax Department, now the team of the Enforcement Directorate will interrogate the people of BBC Admin and Editorial Department. The ED has been probing the foreign funding irregularities under FEMA against the BBC. In this case, a case has already been filed by the ED. News agency PTI quoted sources as saying that the federal probe agency has also sought documents and recordings of statements of some officials of the company under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). According to sources, the probe is essentially looking into the alleged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) violations by the company.
The move comes in the backdrop of the Income Tax Department surveying the BBC office premises in Delhi in February. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which is the administrative body of the I-T department, had then said that the income and profits shown by various entities of BBC Group were not commensurate with the scale of their operations in India and some remittances (by its overseas entities) Tax has not been paid on remittance of money earned in India to another country. FEMA i.e. Foreign Exchange Management Act regulates the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange.
Let us tell you that in February, the ‘survey operation’ of the Income Tax Department in the offices of BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) in Delhi and Mumbai lasted for about 60 hours. During this time the officials collected financial data of some selected employees and made copies of electronic and paper data of the news organization. Officials had told PTI that the Income Tax officials made an inventory of the available stock, recorded statements of some employees, and seized some documents as part of the survey operation. The BBC said in its statement, “The BBC is a credible, independent media organization and we stand by our colleagues and journalists who will continue to do their jobs without fear or favor.”
