The Enforcement Directorate has registered a case against BBC India for alleged foreign exchange violations, sources said on Thursday, the action coming less than three months after the British broadcaster aired a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A BBC spokesperson told news agency PTI in response to a query: “We will continue to cooperate fully with the Indian authorities to ensure that we comply with all our obligations.”
In February, just weeks after the BBC released the documentary India: The Modi Question, the income-tax department had carried out a “survey” at the broadcaster’s offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
The survey had prompted Opposition charges of “vindictive” action by a government that has been accused of targeting political opponents too with its investigative agencies.
The Modi government has over the years used charges of foreign exchange violation to act against several Indian and international NGOs. The NGOs — such as Amnesty and Teesta Setalvad’s Citizens for Peace and Justice — had, like the BBC film, questioned Modi’s role as chief minister during the 2002 Gujarat riots.
“The (ED) case (against BBC India) was registered last week and we have already questioned six employees, including one of the directors of BBC India. The probe is looking into alleged foreign direct investment violations by the company,” an ED official said.
The agency, the official said, has sought several documents and will record the statements of some other company executives, too, under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), which regulates the inflow and outflow of foreign exchange.
After the three-day survey in February at the BBC offices, the income-tax authorities had released a statement saying it had been done to investigate issues relating to international taxation and the transfer pricing of the BBC’s subsidiary companies. The statement was short on specifics and couched in tax jargon.
The two-part BBC documentary focuses on the 2002 riots and on the condition of Indian Muslims on Modi’s watch as Prime Minister since 2014.
