New Delhi: The officials of the Income Tax (IT) Department will continue with their 'surveys' throughout the night at the offices of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Delhi, sources told ETV Bharat on Tuesday evening.
A BBC employee wishing anonymity told ETV Bharat that the I-T department is expected to continue with its 'survey' throughout the night as tax sleuths are looking into records for the last several years. "This might continue for tomorrow or even the day after. We have heard they have permission for three days," the employee said.
The action assumes significance in the wake of the recent controversy surrounding the telecast of the BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question" on the Gujarat 2002 riots that took place during PM Modi's stint as the chief minister of that state.
Government sources, however, said the Income Tax authorities are conducting the surveys on the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai "in view of the BBC’s deliberate non-compliance with the Transfer Pricing Rules and its vast diversion of profits".
They alleged that in the case of the BBC, there has been "persistent non-compliance...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 sources said.
The exercise conducted by the tax authorities is a “survey” and not a search or a raid as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act. "Such surveys are routinely conducted and are not to be confused to be in the nature of a search or raid," the sources added.
The key focus of these surveys, government sources added, is to look into the alleged "manipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages". "These surveys have been undertaken due to BBC’s persistent non-compliance with the norms, making it a repeat offender. In this case, BBC has been non-compliant under transfer pricing rules, persistent and deliberately violative of transfer pricing norms, and deliberately diverting a significant amount of the profits while not following the arm’s length arrangement in the case of allocation of profit," government sources said.
Centre had earlier blocked the BBC documentary released last month examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots. It also banned people from sharing it online. Security forces were scrambled to halt screenings of the program at colleges and restrict clips of it on social media. Critics decried the crackdown as an assault on press freedom.
Also read: Owaisi asks: 'Why is BBC's Modi documentary banned but Godse movie allowed?'
The two-part documentary “India: The Modi Question” was not broadcast in India by the BBC. However, the Centre blocked it and banned people from sharing clips on social media. The orders were issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting using its emergency powers under its information technology laws. Twitter and YouTube both complied with the request and removed many links to the documentary.
