UK foreign minister raises BBC tax searches, India says laws are for all

Last month, India's tax authorities cloned data from the digital devices of some senior employees

Members of media work outside a building having BBC offices, where income tax officials are conducting a search for the second day, in New Delhi, India, Feb 15, 2023. REUTERS

BritishForeignMinisterJames Cleverly raised the issue oftaxsearchesat theBBC's offices inIndiaduring a meeting with his counterpart in New Delhi on Wednesday, theministersaid.

In response, Cleverly was "firmly told that all entities operating inIndiamust comply fully with relevantlawsand regulations", anIndian government source said.

Last month,India'staxauthorities spent three days searching theBBCoffices in New Delhi and Mumbai, where they cloned data from the digital devices of some senior employees.

Cleverly did not share details about the conversation withIndia'sForeignMinisterSubrahmanyam Jaishankar ahead of a G20foreignministers' meeting on Thursday.

"The conversations I had with him are best to keep with him. I did raise it," he said in an interview.

"One of the advantages of having such a strong and professional relationship with Dr Jaishankar is I am able to bring up, and indeed he brings up with me, some of these sensitive issues. I did raise it with him."

However, he said that the vast bulk of the conversation was about the positive bilateral work.

The hallmark of a positive relationship, he said, "is that you can discuss the sensitive and difficult issues and it doesn’t derail us from talking about the really, really positive agenda that we are both hoping to pursue".

Asked if there were concerns about civil liberties inIndia, Cleverly said: "We want to ensure that values that both our countries feel strongly about are upheld. That means working together on a range of issues."

DOCUMENTARY ON PM

Thesearchesat theBBC's offices in February came after theIndian government reacted angrily to a documentary made by the British broadcaster about PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi's leadership of the western state of Gujarat during riots in 2002.

However, the government has said that thesearcheswere not related to the documentary, and followed at least 10taxnotices that had been sent to theBBC.

Without naming theBBC, Jaishankar last week called the documentary "politics by another means".

"You want to do a hatchet job and say, well you know this is just another quest for truth which we decided after 20 years to put out at this time," he said, adding the timing was not accidental.

Whether or not the election season had started inIndia, "but for sure it has started in London and New York", Jaishankar said.

TheBBChas stood by its reporting for the documentary and said it would cooperate with thetaxauthorities. It has also said it would not be put off from reporting without fear or favour and that it does not have an agenda.