A fake Goods and Services Tax (GST) invoice racket, which was used to fraudulently claim a GST input tax credit (ITC) of Rs 25.73 crore, has been busted in Mumbai.
The Investigation Wing of CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) has also arrested an accused, Kiran Kantharia, in the case.
Following intelligence input, the officials launched a probe against a private company, Hacnup Trading (OPC) Private Limited, and found it to be non-existing. The director of this company, Nilesh B Shah, confessed to the officials that he was involved in the creation of multiple other fake firms that are involved in input tax credit frauds on the instructions of Kiran Kantharia and Manish Shah.
The officials detained Kiran Kantharia, and during interrogation, he admitted the offence of fraudulent tax credits through fake companies on the directions of Manish Shah, the officials said.
The probe revealed that these fake companies have passed on ineligible input tax credit to the tune of Rs 11.02 crore and availed input tax credit of Rs 14.70 crore using fake invoices without the supply of goods or services, officials said.
Kantharia was arrested under the relevant provisions of the CGST Act.