The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) arrested two more accused in the alleged scam of fraudulent Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds in the Trade and Taxes department of the Delhi government. The ACB had already arrested one GSTO, three advocates, two transporters and one proprietor of fake firms on August 12.
The officials on Thursday said, the accused have been identified as Manoj Kumar, an accountant, and Vishal Kumar, a chartered accountant.
Joint Commissioner of Police (ACB) Madhur Verma, "The arrested accused persons are recipients of major amounts from fake GST refunds and remained closely associated in seeking fake GST refunds."
In September 2021, suspecting foul play in issuing refunds to the fake firms, the GST department (Vigilance) sent a special team for physical verification of these firms. All these firms were found to be non-existent and non-functional during verification, Verma said.
500 non-existent firms for GST refunds
Around 500 non-existent firms were doing business activities, including export of medical items on papers, just to claim bogus GST refunds.
What was the matter?
Based on the inquiry, the matter was referred to the ACB for a detailed probe. Later, the probe officials found that fraudulent GST refunds were approved by the GST officer without verification of input tax credit, a crucial instrument in the identification of bogus refunds, incurring a direct loss to the government exchequer. Fraudulent GST refunds worth Rs 54 crore were granted to the fake firms and forged invoices amounting to Rs 718 crore have surfaced.
The ACB had arrested total nine accused till now and further investigation to unearth the role and culpability of other GST officials, proprietors and transporters is under progress, the officer added.
(With PTI inputs)
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