New Delhi, Aug 15: Seven people, including a GST officer and three lawyers, have been arrested by Anti-Corruption Branch for their alleged involvement in a GST fraud over Rs 54 crore.
Joint Commissioner of Police, ACB, Madhur Verma said the accused were identified as GST officer Babita Sharma; advocates Raj Singh Saini, Narender Kumar Saini and Mukesh Soni; transporters Surjeet Singh and Lalit Kumar; and a proprietor of one of the fake firms, Manoj Goyal.
While Sharma allegedly sanctioned refunds, the three advocates were the beneficiaries. Surjeet Singh and Lalit Kumar provided fake e-way bills and forged goods receipts to the three advocates in exchange for money and Goyal also benefitted from the refunds.
A preliminary inquiry into the matter was ordered under Additional Commissioner Vivek Aggarwal & based on the inquiry, the matter was referred to the ACB for a detailed investigation.
During the investigation, it was found that fraudulent GST refunds were approved by the GST officer without verification of Input Tax Credit, a crucial instrument in the identification of bogus refunds, incurring a direct loss to the government exchequer.
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