The GST enforcement wing of Odisha have yet again unearthed a multi-crore GST fraud racket and arrested the mastermind, who was running the racket by creating fictitious firms and using fake invoices to claim huge input tax credit (ITC).
GST Commissioner Sunil Kumar Lohani on Friday informed that one Sandeep Mohanty was arrested on Thursday for creating fake invoices worth over Rs 510 crore.
“Opening at least 22 fake firms across the State and generating bogus invoices of Rs 166 crore, Mohanty has pocketed Rs 27.21 crore as input tax credit. He has also facilitated businessmen outside the State to pocket Rs 61.79 crore as ITC by creating bogus invoices worth nearly Rs 344 crore,” Lohani said, adding that Mohanty was arrested under several provisions of Odisha GST Act of 2017.
He said Mohanty’s fake firms came under scanner when the enforcement wing conducted State-wide raids in November 2020. At least a hundred fake firms operating in Deogarh, Balangir, Khordha, Sundargarh (Rourkela), Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri districts had come under the scanner as these firms were apparently run by unemployed youths, housewives, elderly persons and daily wage earners.
The GST Commissioner also informed that lacunae in GST registration processes are encouraging the unscrupulous persons in opening fictitious firms in the names of gullible persons by tactfully getting their identity documents. Lohani has also made an appeal to the general public not to share their identity documents, personal details, bank details with any unknown persons.