Tax Survey At BBC India Offices, Phones, Laptops Scanned

In the wake of a significant uproar over the BBC’s documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the deadly sectarian riots in Gujarat in 2002, income tax officials searched the BBC’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday and seized phones and laptops.

To conduct a “survey” regarding alleged profit-diversion and transfer pricing irregularities involving the BBC, the tax authorities closed off the offices (British Broadcasting Corporation).

The Income Tax authorities are reportedly checking account information going back to 2012.

“The BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai are currently visited by the Income Tax Authorities, and we are fully cooperating. This situation should be resolved as soon as possible, “tweeted the BBC.

The phones and laptops of journalists were taken away, and documents were seized. Six hours after the searches began, only after their laptops had been scanned, were employees allowed to leave. A few employees were seen arguing with the officials in the images.

After requesting employees log in, the officials searched for information on the desktops using the keyword “tax,” a BBC journalist told NDTV.

Those who were not in the office were asked to leave by BBC in a memo to the staff. Additionally, it has instructed its employees to refrain from discussing the searches on social media.

Tax officials insisted that this was a survey, not a search and that the phones would be returned.

“We required some clarifications, so our team is visiting the BBC office and conducting a survey in order to get them. These are not searches; rather, our officers have gone to check the account books “Income Tax sources claimed that they inquired about balance sheets and accounts from the BBC’s finance department.