Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 16: The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which is currently under the Income Tax department survey, on Thursday asked its employees at Delhi and Mumbai offices to not delete any data from their electronic devices.
In an internal communication sent yesterday, the broadcaster asked its employees to be prepared and cooperate with the I-T officials. The BBC has sent two internal communications to its employees in India since the I-T survey began at its offices on Tuesday. The BBC asked its top officials in India to be prepared for any quizzing by the I-T officials and cooperate in the investigation, sources said. It has also sent a list of instructions to its employees in the Delhi and Mumbai offices.
“The officers may record what you say in so far as what you say is related to the income tax survey. They may describe this as being ‘under oath’ this simply means you should tell the truth,” the advisory read, adding that the officers have no powers of arrest.
“You should not delete or conceal any information on any of your devices. The BBC is cooperating fully with the survey,” the public broadcaster told its employees in India.
Earlier on Tuesday, when the survey operations began, the mobile phones of the employees working at the BBC Delhi office were detained and they were asked to go home. The officials landed at the BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai offices on Tuesday at 11:30 am to look into issues related to international taxation and transfer pricing of BBC subsidiary companies.
All staff was required for the broadcasting services, including television and radio and bulletins, have been working from the BBC Delhi office since the income tax department launched survey operations. There has been no interference in the editorial work and the movement of the editorial staff has not been restricted.
Notably, the officials are gathering financial data from select staffers and have made copies of electronic and paper data of the news organisation. The survey teams are seeking answers on financial transactions, the company structure and other details about the news company, and are copying data from electronic gadgets as part of their task of collecting the evidence, tax officials had said.
