₹60cr bogus GST billing scam busted in Patiala

The state excise and taxation department has busted a bogus GST billing scam of ₹60 crore with the arrest of an iron and scrap trader, Subhash Chander, of Khanauri

The state excise and taxation department has busted a bogus GST billing scam of ₹60 crore with the arrest of an iron and scrap trader, Subhash Chander, of Khanauri in Sangrur.

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The accused owned M/s Ganpati Motor Store and had generated bogus bills of ₹60 crore, allowing him to generate input tax credit of ₹10 crore, officials claim.

Input tax credit is the amount that dealers of the final output do not have to pay on their final product. The generation of fake invoices allows such unscrupulous dealers to claim this tax credit, without making any actual purchase. The forged bills were being passed on dealers across Punjab, indicating that this particular scam could just be the tip of the iceberg.

“The owner of the firm used to procure fake GST invoices of iron and scrap from Delhi, without physical delivery of goods. Nine hundred and forty five vehicles were shown to have transported iron and scrap goods from Delhi to Khanauri Mandi,” said additional excise and taxation commissioner-cum-director, investigation, Punjab, Navdeep Kaur Bhinder.

She added that some of these vehicles were found to be actually scooters and motorcycles that could not have transported such bulky and heavy goods.

“Verification of movement of vehicles showed that only 67 of these actually existed. All of these were found to have generated fake receipts of having passed toll plazas of Haryana on the way. Toll plaza managements have confirmed this,” Bhinder said, adding that the department would punish all dealers who had taken benefit of forged tax entries. “In this particular case, most of the scrap was shown as having been sold in Mandi Gobindgarh and Khanna. We are working to trace the whereabouts of others involved in the scam,” she added.