The Central Goods and Services Tax (GST) Commissionerate in Bhavnagaron Friday received judicial custody of three persons who had been arrested for orchestrating a massive fake invoices scam that has lost the public exchequer at least Rs 213 crore till date, said officials.
Sajjadhusen Abidali Punjani, Afzal Satar Gori and Nevil Ashok Shukla were arrested for creating fake invoices showing the movement of goods worth Rs 1,324 crore and availing Input Tax Credit (ITC) worth Rs 213 crore on these goods that never existed in the first place.
However, it is not only the goods that never existed, but even the companies whose names and logos were printed on the bills. The three accused have been accused by the GST department of creating more than 150 shell companies to throw off the authorities and falsely claim ITC with relative impunity.
A statement from the CGST Commissionerate stated that these three accused, who were the alleged masterminds of this racket, were arrested under Section 69 of the Central GST Act, 2017 on May 30 (Thursday). On being produced before the judicial magistrate in Bhavnagar, the Commissionerate was given custody of the accused.
While CGST officials have uncovered the three masterminds, they are yet to investigate the setting up of the 150 shell companies and whether or not there are any more so-called skeletons in the cabinet
