Shillong, April 13: After a fresh investigation into possible foreign exchange irregularities, BBC India has been asked to provide financial statements.
The Enforcement Directorate is reportedly looking into the BBC’s international transfers, as per reports.
Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), BBC India has been in the focus of a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate.
The BBC has been ordered to provide its books of accounts and financial statements by the investigation agency.
This comes after the Income Tax department launched an investigation against the BBC and dispatched teams to the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai over claims of tax evasion, profit-diversion, and non-compliance.
Senior BBC employees were required to stay in the office all night to answer questions during the survey.
The searches were conducted a few weeks after the British public broadcaster aired a programme that criticised Gujarat’s government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2002 communal riots triggered after 59 Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive in Godhra.
A two-part BBC documentary programme named “India: The Modi Question” looked into claims that Prime Minister Modi, while serving as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, didn’t do enough to put an end to the riots in 2002. The Supreme Court had already rejected these claims. In January, the government got the posts deleted promoting the documentary.