Vizag: GST Intelligence arrest Hyderabad resident in Rs 19 Cr fake ITC racket

Visakhapatnam: Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Visakhapatnam Zonal Unit, arrested the mastermind of a Rs 19.60 crore fake input tax credit (ITC) racket.

Officials said the accused is a native of Hyderabad. He had generated invoices or bills of Rs 108.9 crore and passed on fake ITC of Rs 19.60 crore using business entities operated by him without supplying goods or services.

DGGI officials said that these entities are used to facilitate the passing of fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) by issuing fake GST invoices to multiple business firms located in various states, including Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The accused and his associates stole identities such as Pan, Aadhar, and bank accounts of innocent people under the guise of getting them bank loans.

They created fake business entities with the sole purpose of passing on fraudulent input tax credit thereby defrauding the exchequer to the extent of Rs 19.60 crore.

The accused was arrested under Section 69 of the CGST Act 2017 and was produced before the Special Judge for Economic Offences in Visakhapatnam, the joint director DGGI Y Bhaskara Rao said. The court has remanded him for 14 days. The officials of DGGI are investigating the case further.

Principal additional director general of DGGI, Visakhapatnam Zonal Unit, M.R.R Reddy said the menace of fake registrations and issuance of bogus invoices for passing the ineligible input tax credit, is a serious problem. He said some people are creating dubious transactions to cheat the exchequer. He advised people not to fall prey to the allurement of fraudsters.

“They are convincing people to rent out their bank accounts, Pan, Aadhar, and Mobile OTPs in exchange for a paltry sum of money, jobs and using their details, the fraudsters are floating bogus business entities which may later land the innocent people in legal trouble,” he said.