Two Rourkela Bizmen Arrested For Rs 212 Crore GST Fraud

Rourkela: GST enforcement authorities in Odisha have arrested two persons here for their alleged involvement in GST fraud worth Rs 212 crore.

The two accused were identified as Amit Beriwal and Subash Chandra Swain. They are proprietors of two companies in Rourkela.

GST Commissioner Sushil Kumar Lohani said Beriwal and Swain were arrested on the basis of prima facie evidence of their alleged involvement. They were charged under various sections of Odisha GST Act, 2017.

Lohani informed that physical inspection and search of 27 business establishment recently followed by intensive data analysis had revealed that the accused fraudulently availed Rs 89 crore of bogus input tax credits and passing of input tax credits of Rs 123 crore on the basis of fake invoices.

As per information available so far, Beriwal along with Swain and others had created as many as 28 fictitious and dummy firms in the name of persons belonging to basically poorer section like daily wage labourers, private tutors, unemployed youths and housewives.

The duo, considered as the mastermind, obtained identity documents from poor people in the name of giving gainful employment. They then took GST registration and showed purchase of iron and steel goods worth Rs 493 crore and sale of Rs 687 crore in their names without payment of taxes. They passed on bogus input tax credits worth Rs 123 crore to recipients located both inside and outside Odisha.

In their bid to legalize the fake transactions and hoodwink the department, the duo opened bank accounts and operated in the name of these dummy firms. Huge amount of cash transactions have been made through these accounts which are under investigation.