The Central Goods and Service Tax department detained two Chartered Accountants (CAs) on Thursday night over an alleged Rs 15 crore GST refund scam. The CAs were detained by the Directorate-General of GST Intelligence, Gurugram CGST department for issuing a certificate in a GST refund matter. But a group of CAs has called for a protest, terming the detention as malicious.
On Friday, Gurugram police said though a protest by the CAs was continuing the GST office had been allowed to function. Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Gurugram chapter, said the two CAs had been wrongly detained by the department since May 17, and on May 19 they were sent to judicial custody. They claimed that about 40-50 CAs were also detained for nearly four hours by the department.
Terming the arrest ''completely wrong,'' ICAI members said the refund was issued with connivance of officials. The protestors claimed that rather than punishing CAs, action should be taken against the benefitting party — a trader and GST official. According to police, a few days ago, some men had faked up a business and filed a refund of Rs 15 crore of GST. The two CAs attested their documents and aided in all official work which helped in release of refund. “After verification by CAs, officers, too, do their own scrutiny before releasing refund. So, why was refund issued without investigation in this case? And now they are blaming the CAs,” the ICAI members asked.
The CAs alleged that there is an ongoing internal departmental investigation against CGST Commissioner Meenu Kumar and senior officials.
All information regarding the case has been forwarded to the PMO, the Finance Ministry, Enforcement Directorate, Haryana CM’s office and, ICAI officials for further investigation. It was also alleged by CAs that Kumar is running a bogus refund syndicate in department amounting to approximately Rs 25 crore.