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GST sleuths bust invoice fraud worth Rs 641 crore in Odisha, 2 traders held
The State GST Enforcement Wing on Friday nabbed two traders for allegedly availing and passing bogus input tax credit (ITC) of Rs 115.1 crore on the strength of fake invoices to the tune of Rs 641 crore.
The two accused -- the managing partner of Tirupati Traders and authorized representative of Satguru Metals and Power Pvt Ltd Gurdit Dang and Director of Smartageis Trade Venture Private Limited of Rourkela Sujay Maitra -- were being interrogated.
While Dang was arrested from Rourkela, Maitra was nabbed in Bhubaneswar. The two in collusion with others have availed bogus ITC by raising fake purchase invoices against 16 fictitious/non-existent business entities located at Angul, Rourkela, Banai, Ersama, Tirtol, Riamal, and Sundargarh.
Investigations revealed goods were manufactured without payment of tax by Satguru Metals and Power Pvt Ltd and to regularize the illegal transaction, purchase and sale invoices in the name of fictitious firms were being made instead of raising purchase and sale invoices in the name of Satguru Metals.
The State GST Enforcement Wing has so far arrested 20 fraudsters for their involvement in the issuance of fake invoices. In order to eliminate bogus registration, the registration process has been streamlined. A two-month-long special drive starting from Friday has been launched to weed out non-existing registrants.
Commissioner of CT and GST Sushil Kumar Lohani has appealed to people not to share their identity documents, personal details, and bank details with any unauthorised persons and not to permit any unauthorised persons to operate a business or bank account on their behalf or in their name. They have been urged to intimate the nearest GST office if they notice their credentials and other personal documents are being misutilised by someone.
