British Foreign Minister James Cleverly, who is in India for the G20 Finance Ministers’ meet, raised the issue of recent income tax searches at BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai in his meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on Wednesday. He was “firmly” told that Indian laws and regulations must be adhered to, sources have said.

“UK Foreign Secretary brought up BBC tax issue with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today. He was firmly told that all entities operating in India must comply fully with relevant laws and regulations,” a source tracking the matter told businessline.

Income-tax officers carried out a three-day search at BBC offices in Mumbai and Delhi, starting February 14, following which the tax department indicated that it had found several discrepancies and inconsistencies with regard to transfer price documentation. 

The search took place just weeks after BBC aired its two-part documentary on the Gujarat riots criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002 during the riots, for his handling of the violence.

The following week, the British government defended the BBC, stressing that it criticised the UK government, the Opposition Labour party and it had total operational freedom. “That freedom is key, and we want to be able to communicate its importance to our friends across the world, including the government in India,”  said David Rutley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Jaishankar, in a media interaction last week, said the BBC documentary was “politics by other means’’. He had earlier called it a propaganda piece, which was designed to push a particular  narrative.

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