Rs.350 crores bogus billing scam unearthed by State GST in Punjab
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
Today, a raid was conducted by the State GST Department under the guidance of Showkat Ahmad Parray, IAS, Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner-1, Punjab and Pawan Garg, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ludhiana Division, Ludhiana at four different places in Mandi Gobindgarh and Amloh. The raid was conducted by three teams, one team headed by V.P. Singh, Assistant Commissioner State Tax, Mobile Wing, Ludhiana, second team headed by Pawanjit Singh, Assistant Commissioner State Tax, Mobile Wing, Jalandhar and third team headed by Sunita Batra, Assistant Commissioner State Tax, Fatehgarh Sahib.
Giving the details Sunita Batra, Assistant Commissioner State Tax, Fatehgarh Sahib said that during the earlier investigation by the State GST department it was established that a network of firms was engaged in issuance of fake invoices and passing the bogus input tax credit to various firms in the State of Punjab. The department unearthed in its investigation that approximate ten firms had in connivance with each other issued fake invoices worth Rs. 350 crores involving tax of Rs. 45 crores. In all these firms, there was a cash withdrawal from various banks worth Rs. 70 crore. These firms have issued bills without any inward or outward supply of goods and there is a direct loss to State exchequer of Rs. 45 crore.
The State GST department has arrested three persons namely Ganga Ram proprietor of M/s G.K. Enterprises and M/s Deepika Steel Industries, Amit Kumar proprietor of M/s King Sales Corporation and M/s Ishika Traders and Vishesh Kumar proprietor of M/s Vishu Enterprises, as Ganga Ram was major kingpin of tax evasion scam. After medical examination, all three of them were presented before the Duty Magistrate.
The department has impounded some documents from the residence of the accused which shall be further investigated and all those beneficiaries shall be identified which have received these fake invoices, to recover the tax. The beneficiaries who have utilised the input tax credit above the prescribed limit as per section of 132 of the Act, the prosecution proceedings shall also be initiated against them.
June,12,2020
