The Noida Police has caught an eight-member gang including 5 Chartered Accountants who fraudulently used the Permanent Account Number (PAN) of lakhs of people for creating 2660 fake businesses to evade the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) officials have stated that there was a tax evasion of an estimation of more than Rs 10,000 crores. The suspects misutilised the PAN cards of 6,35,000 people. The sources added that the gang engaged in illicit activities including financial fraud.
The investigating authorities claimed that the suspects defrauded the public fund of crores of rupees by establishing phoney corporations to receive a refund of input credit tax from the government.
In accordance with sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, two FIRs have been filed against the eight accused.
An individual who reported identity fraud on his PAN card brought the problem to attention. Even though the complainant’s PAN cards were used to register two fictitious businesses in the states of Punjab and Maharashtra, the inquiry showed that lakhs of people had been the victims of ubiquitous identity fraud.
The group has allegedly been defrauding the government for five years, according to the investigating team’s commissioner. Each of the fake organisations generated e-way invoices worth more than ₹2 to ₹3 crore per month, and they are registered in states all throughout the country.
The suspects informed the officers that they filed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Returns for their fictitious business and sold them for Rs. 80,000-Rs. 90,000.
Can we deem the public awareness of this problem an accomplishment for the GST officials and other investigation team? According to reports, the alleged perpetrators filed GST returns on these fictitious businesses and carried on doing so for five years without interference from the GST officials.
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