Arrest of a prominent Builder in a case of availment of fraudulent Input Tax Credit of Rs. 4.86 Crore on fake invoices

The officials of DGGI, Nashik Regional Unit of DGGI, Nagpur Zonal Unit arrested a prominent builder of Nashik in an ongoing investigation regarding availment of fraudulent Input Tax Credit on fake invoices.

Information had been received by DGGI that the Builder was availing fraudulent Input Tax Credit on fake invoices issued by non-existent entities and was utilizing this fake Credit for discharging its outward GST liabilities.

During the searches, it was observed that the Builder had cancelled its earlier registration and had obtained a new registration under a different management in order to avoid detection. However, with the help of online data mining tools, the entire details of the cancelled registration were obtained and the availment of fraudulent Credit was confirmed.

It was observed that the Builder had availed fraudulent Input Tax Credit of Rs. 4.86 Crore on the basis of invoices issued by certain entities in West Bengal which were non-existent and had not supplied any goods or services to the Builder. When confronted with the facts, the availment of fraudulent Input Tax Credit on paper transactions was admitted by the Builder during interrogation.

The Builder was thereafter arrested by the officials of DGGI, Nashik Regional Unit on the basis of Arrest Authorization issued by the Additional Director General, DGGI, Nagpur Zonal Unit. The entire amount is expected to be recovered soon and an amount of Rs. 25 Lakhs have already been paid by the Builder so far.