Tax evasion: GST fraud detected, Gujarat man caught using fake invoices; how he did it

An industrialist from Kapadvanj in Gujarat's Kheda district was arrested for allegedly using fake invoices to avail more than Rs 12 crore input tax credit under GST law, officials said Sunday.

The accused Paresh Patel was picked up by Central GST Commissionerate in Vadodara Friday, and was sent to judicial remand till January 3 by a Kapadvanj court, they said.

Acting upon specific intelligence, the officers of the commissionerate raided various locations simultaneously and found incriminating documents pertaining to fake companies involved in bogus transactions without any actual supply of goods, the commissionerate said in a press statement.

"The (accused) industrialist fraudulently inflated the company's turnover by issuing fake GST invoices to the tune of Rs 75 crore. About Rs 14 crore worth of fake GST credit was passed on by the Kapadvanj-based company to certain Ahmedabad-based firms.

"Based on fake invoices valued at about Rs 70 crore received through courier and other means, the said company also availed more than Rs 12 crore fake input tax credit, resulting in huge loss to the government exchequer," it said.