GST officers bust syndicate of fake firms involved in Rs 362-cr evasion

GST officers have busted a syndicate involved in the creation of fake firms and bogus invoices which led to a GST evasion of Rs 362 crore, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

The Directorate of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence, Ghaziabad Regional Unit, has busted a syndicate involved in creating and controlling fake firms and issuing of bills by these fake firms without supplying any goods or services and encashment of GST refund, the ministry said.

Two office premises were searched from where various incriminating documents related to over 200 fake firms were recovered i.e. mobile phones, digital signatures, debit cards, PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, photos of persons, rent agreements, laptops, pen drives, rubber stamps, keys of offices, SIM cards, cheque books and some kuccha records.

"After an analysis of the evidences and data, it was revealed that this network consists of 275 bogus firms which exist only on paper. These firms have issued fake invoices having a total value of Rs 3,189 crore involving total GST evasion of Rs 362 crore," it added.

The actual masterminds of the network, namely Vipin Kumar Gupta alias Nikku and Yogesh Mittal, have been apprehended and arrested by DGGI officers.

It has been learnt that both Vipin Kumar Gupta and Yogesh Mittal are habitual offenders. Both the offenders have been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) earlier, the ministry said.