Bogus billing scam: Gujarat GST department nabs ‘mastermind’, recovers Rs 60 cr

The scam, which has been going on since 2017, came to light in June 2021 when two vehicles were found to be bogus in a preliminary verification. Ten people were arrested so far in the case.

The Gujarat Goods and Service Tax (GST) department arrested one person from Bhavnagar who it claimed to be the “mastermind” in a bogus billing scam worth Rs 700 crore. The accused, identified as Mohammad Abbas Shabbirali Savjani alias Mohammad Tata, was arrested Sunday by the state GST department near SG highway in Ahmedabad.

“We have recovered over Rs 60 crore of tax credit till now. Bogus billing was about Rs 700 crore and the tax credit of about Rs 130 crore was scammed. The mastermind Mohammad Abbas Shabbirali Savjani (Mohammad Tata) of Bhavnagar did not show his presence during the investigation and was on a constant run. He was arrested near the SG Highway in Ahmedabad. The arrests have been made under Section 69 (power to arrest) of the GST Act,” said Milind Kavatkar, Additional Commissioner of Enforcement, at a press conference in Ahmedabad  Monday.

The scam, which has been going on since 2017, came to light in June 2021 when two vehicles were found to be bogus in a preliminary verification. Ten people were arrested so far in the case.

“A team of three Deputy Commissioners and six Assistant commissioners were entrusted to monitor this operation. The accused misused the documents of the poor people to register firms/companies for the registration under the GST. In return, these people were provided some financial inducements. They obtained registration numbers in the name of 121 different firms (known till date), issued only bills (invoices) without physical movement of goods and passed on false credits. An evasion of about Rs 130 crore of tax credit was done by filing bogus GST bills. They further channelled the money deposited in the bank accounts of these bogus firms to other accounts for withdrawal and to other beneficiary traders. This way they defrauded the tax,” said Kavatkar.

“Further investigation is being done. Initially, physical examination of the firm registered with the department was not done while giving the permission for registration. But after 2019, the site examination was brought into operation, after various scams started coming up,” said Kavatkar.

- The Indian Express