ED sends showcause notice to NDTV for alleged FEMA violation

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has served a showcause notice to news broadcaster NDTV for alleged violation totaling Rs 2,030 crore under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema). According to ED, the notice was issued in a case being pursued under Fema since 2011.

An ED official alleged that NDTV did not follow regulations after it set up companies in the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Mauritius. NDTV confirmed it has received the notice.

“…the company along with Dr Prannoy Roy, executive cochairperson, Radhika Roy, executive co-chairperson, KVL Narayan Rao, executive vice-chairperson and NDTV Studios (erstwhile subsidiary of the company since merged with the company) have on November 19, 2015, received a show-cause notice from the Directorate of Enforcement as to why adjudication proceedings should not be held for alleged contraventions of provisions of Fema,” the company said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.

NDTV also said it had been advised that the allegations of the contraventions of Fema norms in the show-cause notice were not “legally tenable”. The company said it would file a reply to the ED notice soon.

Meanwhile, a show-cause notice has also been served by the Home Ministry to an NGO run by Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising for alleged violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.