The officers of the Preventive Unit of the CGST, Belagavi Commissionerate, have busted a fake GST invoice racket involving Rs. 132 crore of fake input tax credit of Rs. 23.8 crore and arrested the main accused.
Dinesh Pangarkar, the principal commissioner of CGST and Central Excise, Belagavi Commissionerate, stated in a release that Naqeeb Najeeb Mulla, proprietor of M/s. Federal Logistics & Co has been arrested under the provision of Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017.
Naqeeb Mulla was involved in the availment and passing of fraudulent Input Tax Credits by the issuance of fake invoices without the actual supply of goods and services.
Mulla, a tax consultant by profession, also created a fake proprietary firm named M/s. Federal Logistics & Co. He was handling the filing of returns and other GST-related issues for multiple firms and was involved in declaring manipulated GST returns.
The modus operandi used by the accused was to collect cash payments from his clients for discharging monthly GST liabilities, but used the same for his interests, leading to embezzlement. Further, he discharged the GST liabilities utilising fake ITC passed through his firm or other firms under his control.
Under interrogation and confrontation with the relevant records and statements of the affected clients, the accused Mulla admitted to siphoning off cash by forging monthly GST returns.
The CGST officers of the Belagavi CGST arrested Mulla under the provisions of Section 69 of the CGST Act, 2017, on Wednesday, as he committed an offence under Section 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) of the CGST Act, 2017. After his arrest, the accused was presented before the JMFC II Court, Belagavi, where the magistrate remanded the accused to judicial magistrate remanded the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.
Source: The Times of India
Share this content: