The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday issued an adjudication order levying a penalty of Rs 3.44 crore on BBC India for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The news organisation has also been asked to pay Rs 5,000 for every day from October 15, 2021 until it complies with the order.
The federal agency also levied a fine of Rs 1.14 crore each on three directors of BBC India – Giles Antony Hunt, Indu Shekhar Sinha and Paul Michael Gibbons – holding them responsible for the company’s operations during the period when it allegedly violated the law.
In a show cause notice issued on August 4, 2023, asking why action should not be taken for the FEMA violation, the ED had said BBC India was 100% foreign owned though the government in a notification on September 18, 2019 had stipulated a 26% cap on overseas investment in digital media companies.
The ED had registered the case against BBC India and its six employees in April 2023, two months after the income-tax department surveyed its officers in Delhi and Mumbai. The survey went on for three days.
