Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Commissionerate of Central Tax (Excise & Service) busted a Rs 22.4-crore fake invoice racket and booked cases against five entities that allegedly procured and supplied fake GST invoices without actual supply of goods.
The officers used specific intelligence received from Kolkata and information gathered in the city to book cases against Hindustan AAC products, Aitri Engineers & Contractors Ltd, Sri Krishna Castings, Shree Metals and Aavya Enterprises.
The commissionerate alleged that the five entities claimed transport of products like metal scrap and were passing on fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) since July 2017. “Some of them were found to be utilising fraudulent ITCs to offset their GST liability on manufacturing goods, thereby evading the tax payable,” said principal commissioner, Central Tax, M. Srinivas,
He said the value of goods involved was Rs 131 crore and ineligible input tax credit availed stood at Rs 22.64 crore.
A statement said the sleuths conducted searches at different premises in connection with these five entities on May 15 and 17 and seized unaccounted cash worth Rs 20 lakh, $4,150 and incriminating documents. The details of the foreign currency have been shared with the income-tax department.
Investigation found that vehicles that were mentioned to carry huge volumes of goods mentioned in the e-way bills were fictitious. On inquiry, some of them were found to be passengers vehicles, scooters and tractors.
“Three key persons of the firms have been arrested under Section 69 of CGST Act, 2017. They will be remanded to judicial custody for 14 days,” Mr Srinivas said.
