Anti-evasion wing detects Rs 241-crore GST fraud, one held

The anti-evasion wing of central goods and services tax (CGST) Delhi South Commissionerate has discovered yet another case of fake invoicing and GST fraud, a Finance Ministry statement stated.

The accused were using a new modus operandi of defrauding the government exchequer by exploiting refund facility given for inverted duty structure. Over 120 companies which were involved in these transactions have come to light so far, involving fake invoicing of Rs 1,600 crore and tax evasion of Rs 241 crore, the statement issued on Thursday said.

The investigations unearthed a well-organised racket of creating bogus firms, issuing fake invoices and bogus e-way bills to generate and encash tax credits.

“The main culprit was arrested as per the provisions of Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017, and produced before judicial magistrate today itself and remanded to 10 days of judicial custody. The racketeer had created several firms on the basis of unauthorised access to identity documents of various persons.”

The new modus operandi was uncovered by a team of investigators, who worked for many weeks to uncover the maze of companies created across India. Incriminating electronic evidences have been recovered from the premises of the accused, it said.