The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday registered a case against the BBC under the Foreign Exchange Management Act for alleged irregularities in foreign funding.
He said the federal probe agency also sought documents and recording of statements of some officials of the company under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The probe is essentially looking into the alleged Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) violations by the company, he said.
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), the administrative body for the IT department, had then said that the income and profits shown by various entities of the BBC Group were not commensurate with the scale of their operations in India and tax has not been paid. On some remittances by its foreign entities.
The British broadcaster landed in trouble after releasing a documentary on the 2002 riots in Gujarat criticizing then chief minister Narendra Modi. After this the BBC documentary was banned in India.
‘Freedom of expression not a license to cheat’: Assam CM
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed on March 22 that the state assembly passed a resolution against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stating that New India would have a democratic but proportionate response against those who malign India. .
Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted, “It must be made clear in no uncertain terms that New India will have a democratic but proportionate response against those who malign India. Freedom of expression is not a license to cheat.”