BBCsays it has suspended a presenter who is alleged to have paid thousands of pounds to a teenager in exchange for sexually explicit images.

A BBC presenter is accused of paying a teenager to send him pornographic imagesPhoto: James Manning / PA Images / Profimedia

The British government on Sunday ordered the BBC to investigate one of its presenters, who was accused in the press by a mother of paying her child to send her pornographic photos, AFP reported, according to Agerpres.

The Sun tabloid published on Friday night the testimony of the mother, who has accused the star BBC presenter, without naming him, of offering her 17-year-old child tens of thousands of pounds in exchange for pornographic photos, without specifying whether that was the case. girl or boy

According to the newspaper, the family contacted the BBC on May 19 to inform them of the situation, but the presenter remained at the station for several weeks.

The allegations, which have made headlines in the British press, “need to be investigated urgently and thoroughly”, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement on Sunday. Minister Lucy Fraser met BBC Director General Tim Davy.

“I can assure you that the BBC is investigating promptly and thoroughly,” she wrote on Twitter.

“Given the nature of the allegations, it is important that we give the BBC time to conduct this investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action,” she added.

The BBC said on Friday that it “takes all allegations very seriously” and that it has a “procedure to deal with them proactively”.

The public broadcaster, whose chairman resigned in April over a conflict of interest case and whose impartiality is regularly called into question, has come under fire for its handling of the case.

Former Home Secretary and Tory MP Priti Patel called the BBC’s response “ridiculous” in a tweet.

“The BBC, but also other channels, need to get together because they seem to be going from one scandal to another,” opposition Labor MP Rachel Reeves told Sky News on Sunday.

Last May, Philip Schofield, a star presenter on private channel ITV, resigned after admitting he had an affair with a young female colleague he helped recruit.

The station’s management was questioned about the way it ran the business, even in Parliament.