India News | Three Held for Defrauding Govt of over Rs 65 Crore

Hyderabad, Jan 6 (PTI): Three people were on Monday arrested here for allegedly defrauding the government to the tune of Rs 67.76 crore by creating non-existent firms, officials of Medchal Central GST Commissionerate said.

Cases of fake invoices and evasion of GST were booked against the three who created non-existent firms and issued invoices without supplying goods and allegedly facilitated fraudulent availing of input tax credit (ITC) by over 200 different firms/companies, the officials said.

By this, the three defrauded the government of revenue to the tune of Rs 67.76 crore, a press release from the Medchal Commissionerate said.

Further investigations revealed that the trio had created 11 bogus firms either in their names or in the names of different individuals by alluring them with monthly payments, and taking registrations in the name of such individuals, the release said.

The three were aided by an auditor, who helped them in obtaining multiple GST registrations, arranging input bills from bogus firms, maintaining all records including GST returns, it said. During the investigations, it was noticed that the fake invoice trading took place against payment of 9 per cent/10 per cent commission in cash. It was also revealed that the recipient firms of the fake bills were paying the invoice amounts in regular banking channels to the bogus firms which had issued fake bills and amounts were being paid back to them by withdrawing cash from their account by deducting their commission, the release said. Two persons who created the non-existent firms and the auditor who confessed to their involvement in the case were arrested on Wednesday and produced before a court here which remanded them till January 20.

Efforts are on to nab another man, who created the non- existent firms and is absconding. Further investigation and recovery proceedings are underway, the release added. PTI

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)