Delhi advocate held for Rs 50 cr fraud

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SME Times News Bureau | 28 Feb, 2021
The officers of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerate of Delhi East arrested an advocate, Vishal, who is practicing law at Karkardooma Court in the national capital for frauds regarding input tax credit (ITC) worth around Rs 50 crore.

A Finance Ministry statement said that Vishal started this GST fraud by creation of a fictitious firm in his own name which he got registered at his residence.

Subsequently, he arranged various KYCs of different persons to create multiple fictitious firms having no business activity and created solely for the purpose of passing on fake Input Tax Credit and defrauding the government exchequer, it said.

Multiple KYCs and cheques were found during the search of his residence. He used to pass on fake Input Tax Credit to his clients in exchange for a commission of 2 per cent of the invoice amount.

The total fake Input Tax Credit passed on quantified so far is Rs 50.03 crore, which is expected to increase as the investigation progresses, said the official statement.

The advocate masterminded a deep-rooted criminal conspiracy to defraud the government, it noted.

Vishal has been arrested under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate on Saturday. He has been remanded to judicial custody of 14 days till March 13, 2021.

Further investigation in the case is in process.

As per the ministry, since the inception of GST Central Tax, Delhi Zone has made 27 arrests in various cases involving GST evasion amounting of more than Rs 4,019.95 crore.