Indian Officials Accuse BBC Of Tax Evasion

India’s Finance Ministry has accused the BBC of tax evasion, saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country, Ashok Sharma reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: BBC is also accused of not paying full taxes on the earnings of employees who came from abroad and worked in India for short durations.

Indian tax authorities ended three days of searches of the British broadcaster’s New Delhi and Mumbai offices on Thursday night. Opposition political parties and other media organizations have criticized the searches as an attempt to intimidate the media.

Critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have also questioned the timing of the searches, which came weeks after the BBC aired a documentary in the UK that was critical of Modi.

“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,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a statement.

It said they found “several discrepancies and inconsistencies” and had gathered “crucial evidence” from statements of employees, digital evidence and documents which would be examined more fully later.

The statement also accused the BBC of not paying full taxes on the earnings of employees who came from abroad and worked in India for short durations.

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