Ahmedabad: The enforcement branch of the State Goods and Services Tax (GST) department has unearthed a bogus billing
scam
for edible and non-edible oil to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore. After
conducting more than 100 raids on commercial establishments across
Deesa, Gondal and Unjha during the period from June to September, the
state
GST
department learnt that fake invoices citing
amounts to the tune of Rs
1,000 crore were generated by the culprits, in a bid to evade paying
taxes and still taking the benefit of input tax credit (ITC). ITC
benefit worth Rs 58 crore has been illegally claimed by several
culprits.
Some six persons namely Vimal Bhut, Anil Bhut and Ravikumar Vaja
from Gondal; Mehulkumar Thakkar from Deesa and Mayur Thakkar and Amit
Thakkar from Unjha, were arrested by the state GST department and
produced before the metropolitan court on Monday and were later given
judicial custody.
Explaining the modus operandi during a press conference on Monday,
Ajay Kumar, special commissioner, state commercial tax department, said,
“To avail ITC benefit,
bills
for purchase and sales need to be produced. The culprits purchased rice
bran oil from states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at a premium
and sold them without bill in other states such as Maharashtra and South
Gujarat without bill. The purchase bills were later distributed to
unregistered dealers who typically sell oil without bills and claim ITC
benefit illegally.”
Offences have been registered against the culprits under section
132(1) of the GST Act, which is a cognizable and non-bailable offence.
“Several irregularities under the value added tax (VAT) regime have also
surfaced against these culprits. In the next stage, we will investigate
the traders who have purchased bogus bill to claim ITC benefit
illegally and take appropriate action.”