Gujarat: Businessman held for Rs 15 crore input tax credit scam

VADODARA: The goods and services tax (GST) department on Tuesday arrested a businessman for fraudulently availing input tax credit and duping the government of Rs 15 crore.
Manoj Agrawal, who is into scrap business, was nabbed after CGST, Vadodara II commissionerate investigated his firm’s transactions over last few months.
GST officials said that Agrawal had been issuing fake invoices without the actual movement of goods to generate fraudulent input tax credit. “Investigations revealed that the accused had created eight firms located in Vadodara, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. They were receiving fake invoices from other firms and, in turn, were passing on the input tax credit using their firms,” GST officials said.
“The investigation further revealed that the fake firms utilized the input tax credit in tax payment of goods purchased from registered/unregistered tax payers. Further, to validate the receipt and supply, they had generated e-way bills using seven trucks which were stationed at a single place and had not moved,” GST officials added.
Investigation has so far revealed that the accused issued and received fake invoices to the tune of Rs 100 crore and fraudulently availed input tax credit worth Rs 15 crore.
GST officials said that the accused has been sent to judicial custody. “He (Agarwal) began availing input tax credit fraudulently soon after GST was introduced,” a GST official said.