Rs 85 crore of tax evasion detected

Ahmedabad, Nov 14, 2022

In multiple and multi-agency raids conducted jointly by the state goods and services tax (SGST) officials along with the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Ahmedabad (crime), tax evasion of Rs 85 crore was detected. On Saturday, the multi-agency operation involved raids and searches across some 205 locations of 115 suspected fake companies.

Of these 41 firms have to be found fake. Further investigations are still underway in the remaining cases. Of the total bogus firms, 14 were found in Ahmedabad, 12 in Vadodara, 9 in Surat, 3 in Bhavnagar, 2 in Rajkot and one in Gandhidham. SGST officials confirmed that the firms under scanner reflected a turnover of Rs 465 crore.

Some 24 persons suspected to be involved in the fake billing scam are still absconding. The remaining have already being summoned by different agencies and interrogation of 91 persons is underway. Sources confirmed that the total tax evasion amount is expected to go further up as the investigation progresses.

Based on system intelligence, SGST officials have identified bogus companies in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Valsad, Rajkot, Panchmahal, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Kutch, Kheda, Narmada, Mahisagar, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, and Anand. Some 90 teams of SGST in addition to those from Gujarat ATS and Ahmedabad (crime) have been deployed for the operation.

Preliminary investigation reveals that each of these bogus firms are used to generate and issue bills for commodities to avail and pass on illicitly obtained input tax credit.

[The Times of India]