Man held in Ahmedabad for huge GST fraud

A man was arrested here on Thursday for his alleged involvement in illegally utilising and passing Input Tax Credit of Rs 129.92 crore, an official said.

With his arrest, the Preventive wing of the Central GST Ahmedabad-South Commissionerate busted the racket of issuance of fake invoices wherein huge amount of ineligible Input Tax Credit was fraudulently availed and utilised to evade the payment of GST, said Sachin Gusia, Joint Commissioner (Preventive), CGST, Ahmedabad-South.

Aliasgar Vahidali Saiyed, 31, a resident of Ahmedabad, was arrested for availing wrong Input Tax Credit of Rs 129.92 crore on bogus invoices without the receipt of goods, he said.

He further issued bogus invoices for RS 846.58 crore without supplying the goods, facilitating wrong availment and utilisation of input tax credit by other companies, Gusia said, adding that his act has caused a huge evasion of GST.

Saiyed, the mastermind of the fraud, created and managed as many as 61 fake firms which had been involved in the receipt of fake bills/invoices and issuance of invoices without the supply of actual goods, the officer said.

The purchase and sale of goods was merely on paper and at no point he purchased or sold any actual physical goods. The entire chain of transactions was only on papers, he said.

Saiyed confessed that he received fake Input Tax Credit in GST returns and fake Input Tax Credit was passed on to multiple firms across the states without any actual supply of goods, thereby illegally utilising and passing Input Tax Credit of Rs.129.92 crore, Gusia said.

The offences are non-bailable in nature under Section 132 of the CGST Act 2017.

Saiyed was produced before a court which remanded him to judicial custody.