The BBC spent more than £6,500 on legal fees helping former chief financial officer Zarin Patel to correct a Daily Star article that claimed she personally helped presenters “dodge” tax.
Patel sued the Express Newspapers title for defamation after it printed an article on 24 July 2012, headlined “Dodge tax or face the sack! BBC tells its stars”.
The story claimed that BBC staff and presenters were being “forced to go off the books so Beeb chiefs could save millions”, while an editorial directly linked Patel with the edict.