In a well-coordinated operation against Goods and Services Tax (GST) scamsters, Haryana Police on Sunday said it has busted four major gangs related to issuing or registration of bogus firms involved in fake invoice bills scam which defrauded the Government exchequer to the tune of over Rs 464.12 crore.
The nexus of the fraudsters was active not only in Haryana but across the country.
The crackdown on GST fake invoice scam has also led to the recovery of over Rs 112 crore and unearthing fake GST Identification Numbers (GSTIN).
A total of 72 police cases have been filed so far in which 89 accused have been arrested by the Crime Branch. Among the total arrests, 40 cases have been registered majorly against the accused namely Govind Sharma, Gaurav, Anupam Singla and Rakesh Arora.
Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Yadava said that these persons issued fraudulent invoices to numerous firms and companies without actual supply of goods through fraudulent e-way bills (GST related challans for transporting consignments) and facilitated fake (Income Tax Credit) ITC entitlement on GST portal through GSTR-3B form.
It has also been revealed that fraudulent ITC worth crores of rupees has been passed by these gangs using fake GST invoices, e-way bills and with the help of forged bank transactions. During the course of investigations, it has also come to light that out of the arrested persons, some are white-collar economic repeated offenders. Police has also blocked inadmissible ITC worth of Rs 97.22 crore in Excise and Taxation Department, the DGP said.
A total of 21 FIRs against fake firms belonging to Govind gang active in Panipat and adjoining areas were lodged in year 2019 while other three gangs involved in major GST evasion were booked between 2018 and 2019. Police has so far blocked ITC of these gangs to the tune of over Rs 80 crore in Excise and Taxation Department. The DGP informed that the major goods involved in these GST invoice scams were scrap, iron and steel articles, cotton-yarn, paper etc. The drive against the GST evaders and ITC fraudsters is expected to intensify and more arrests are likely to be done in near future, he said.
Investigations of these cases are in progress to identify other beneficiaries to recover the tax liability, he added.
Giving details about their modus operandi, the DGP informed that maximum fraudsters in these gangs used to first register fake firms on GST portal in the name of gullible people and then generate fake invoices, bills of these firms by using software apps like BusyApp, TallyApp, Shkun Software etc. and then uploading these bills to generate e-way bills on GST portal.
Maximum number of e-Way bills which were generated by these fraudsters were found to be fake on verification by the Crime branch. These e-Way bills mentioned vehicle numbers related to ambulances, government vehicles, motorcycles, private owned vehicles which are to be used for commercial purposes. On further inquiry, the bank account numbers which were shown in GST registration form of bogus firm were also found dubious and the fraudsters used another bank account gateway to deceive authorities, he said.
Other modus operandi involved the change of Directors or Proprietors, their addresses, mobile numbers, PAN cards, email addresses every financial year to deceive authorities concerned, he added.
Mohd. Akil, DGP crime said. “The Police has conducted a statewide drive against GST fake invoice fraud and requested the department concerned to provide all the records.”
As the beneficiaries (ITC claimants) are from various parts of Haryana and other states too, we are coordinating with our counterparts to track the culprits involved in the fraud, he added.
