Hyderabad, Sep 25 The CGST Secunderabad has unearthed a case of “fraudulent” availment of Input Tax Credit amounting to Rs 32.28 crore through bogus invoices and arrested the director of a company here, officials said on Friday.
As part of an ongoing enforcement drive against fraudulent ITC claims, the Anti-Evasion Branch of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), Secunderabad Commissionerate under the CGST and Customs Zone, Hyderabad arrested the mastermind of Input Tax Credit fraud based in Musheerabad here, an official release said.
Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation and statements recorded, the accused was arrested on September 24 under Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate and has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, it said. Further, investigation was underway.
Investigation revealed that the company under the accused, engaged in trading of TMT bars and steel pipes and tubes, had availed fraudulent ITC on the basis of invoices issued by firms which were found to be non-existent, non-functional, or having cancelled GST registrations for issuing fake invoices, the release said.
Field verification conducted by jurisdictional authorities confirmed that these suppliers were bogus entities with no genuine business activity at their declared places of business, it said.
Further inquiry established that the ITC was availed without actual receipt of goods and was utilised for discharge of GST liability, in contravention of the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the release added.
(PTI News)
