British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Wednesday raised the issue of Income Tax searches at BBC offices in India with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during a bilateral meeting in Delhi. The EAM “firmly” told his UK counterpart that all entities operating in India must fully comply with relevant laws, reports said quoting government sources.
"UK Foreign Secretary brought up the BBC tax issue with EAM today. He was firmly told that all entities operating in India must comply fully with relevant laws and regulations," a sources was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Cleverly is currently in India to attend the G20 foreign ministers' meeting.
The Income Tax authorities carried out “surveys” at the BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai in February. The I-T action came weeks after the British broadcaster aired a two-part documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat Riots.
Earlier, in an interview to ANI, Cleverly said BBC is an independent organisation and is separate from the UK government.
"I didn't see the documentary but I've seen reactions in UK and India. BBC is an independent organisation and separate from government. I enjoy a strong personal relationship with Dr Jaishankar...relationship between UK-India growing stronger by the day," he said.
The survey at BBC offices was launched on February 14 and it ended after about 60 hours. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) later issued a statement, saying that IT teams unearthed crucial evidence during the survey.
“During the course of the survey, the Department gathered several evidences pertaining to the operation of the organization which indicate that tax has not been paid on certain remittances which have not been disclosed as income in India by the foreign entities of the group,” it said.
The CBDT further said that the survey had also thrown up several discrepancies and inconsistencies regarding Transfer Pricing documentation.
