LUDHIANA: A day after the Central GST (CGST) commissionerate in Punjab's Ludhiana district arrested a businessman for doing bogus billing worth Rs 252 crore, the department has arrested a leading chartered accountant of the city on the charges of helping set up firms which did bogus billing of Rs 158 crore and availed forged Input Tax Credit (ITC) of more than Rs 21 crore.
CA Ankur Garg, who was produced before the court on Thursday, has been remanded to judicial custody till November 26. Meanwhile, the department is on the lookout for several persons who are co-accused in this case and two of them are Delhi-based and are untraceable at this moment.
Giving more information about the case, Ashutosh Baranwal, principal commissioner, CGST commissionerate Ludhiana, said, “Our anti-evasion wing during the course of an investigation has unearthed a nexus of several firms indulging in fraudulent availment of ITC and fraudulent monetization of ITC through refunds and bogus billing.
Using the tools of BIFA (Business Intelligence and Fraud Analytics) and the analysis of data culled from e-way bill portal, our office established that these firms had a common set of partners and indulged in issuing fake invoices without any actual movement of goods or manufacturing activity.”
Baranwal also added, “A prominent chartered accountant of Ludhiana Ankur Garg has been found to have helped set up these bogus firms in connivance with two other individuals. It has been established through the analysis that bogus bills worth Rs 158 crore have been generated, involving fake ITC availment of Rs 21 crore. One of the main accused Ankur Garg, CA, has been arrested and was produced before a court which remanded him to judicial custody till November 26. Further investigation to nab the co-accused is under way and two persons from Delhi are untraceable for the moment."