New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has explained that the BBC news agency has violated transfer pricing rules.
The Income Tax officials today (Tuesday) conducted a thorough inspection of the accounts at the BBC news agency offices in Delhi and Mumbai.
In a press release issued by the Income Tax Department, they have stated that this is not an audit but an audit of accounts. They have also said that the investigation conducted by them has revealed that the BBC is in violation of transfer pricing rules.
They said that the BBC has been diverting their income for a long time and the Income Tax department has sent several reports about this. However, they said the investigation was carried out because the BBC had continued to engage in this breach.
Earlier, commenting on the raid, the BBC said that Income Tax officials are conducting raids at their offices in Delhi and Mumbai, they are cooperating fully and hope the raid will be over soon.
Commenting on this, the UK government said that it is closely monitoring the inspection conducted by the Income Tax Department officials at the BBC offices in India.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur has commented on this inspection and said that it is usual for the Income Tax Department officials to conduct inspections based on the fact that irregularities are taking place.
Opposition parties including the Congress have strongly condemned the raid on the BBC offices. Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh, who alleged that the raids were being conducted in the wake of the BBC’s documentary on the Gujarat riots, criticized the central government’s action as being in line with Vinasa Kale viparitha puthi.
