New Delhi
\nIndian tax officers have searched the BBC\u2019s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second straight day, with the British broadcaster saying it was \u201cfully co-operating\u201d with the authorities.
\n\u201cQuestions about BBC\u2019s structure, activities, organisation, and operations in India are within the remit of the investigation,\u201d said an internal email sent by Liliane Landor, director of BBC World Service, to the employees on Wednesday.
\nThe BBC management told editorial and other staff members to work from home after they were able to leave the office on Tuesday night, said staff who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to talk to media.
\nThere was no overnight break in the search and investigators scanned the desktops of some employees who were earlier told not to use their phones and keep them aside, the staff members said on Wednesday.
\nA New Delhi-based BBC employee said officials had been \u201cconfiscating all phones\u201d during the tax raid.
\nIndian income tax officials have not made any statements since the searches were launched in the BBC\u2019s New Delhi and Mumbai offices on Tuesday morning.
\nThe Press Trust of India news agency said the officials were making copies of electronic and paper-based financial data from the organisation.
\nIndia\u2019s tax department is investigating the BBC\u2019s \u201cdeliberate non-compliance with the transfer pricing rules\u201d and its \u201cvast diversion of profits\u201d, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
\nAccording to officials, the focus of the so-called surveys is to look into \u201cmanipulation of prices for unauthorised benefits, including tax advantages\u201d, the report said.
\nThe tax raids came nearly a month after the BBC aired a two-part documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s role in the 2002 riots in his home state of Gujarat, in which more than 1,000 people \u2013 most of them Muslims \u2013 were killed. Activists have put the toll at more than twice that number.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi Indian tax officers have searched the BBC\u2019s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second straight day, with the British broadcaster saying it was \u201cfully co-operating\u201d with the authorities. \u201cQuestions about BBC\u2019s structure, activities, organisation, and operations in India are within the remit of the investigation,\u201d said an internal email sent by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314062,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-314049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n