An auto rickshaw driver in Pune and a fake company registered in his name were at the heart of an elaborate Goods and Services Tax (GST) scam unearthed by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) authorities last week involving an amount of Rs 5,000-Rs 8,000 crore. The accused in the fraud are alleged to have registered as many as 246 fake GST firms to commit the multi-crore fraud. Using these fake firms, the accused would use stolen personal identities, and multiple bank accounts to undertake the fake GST transactions without any real supply of goods or payment of tax to the government.
This is not the first instance of such a multi-crore fraud under the indirect tax regime. Over seven years after the rollout of GST in July 2017, authorities are still grappling with multiple such instances of GST frauds, involving broadly similar modus operandi. Typically, such cases involve fake identities or mule accounts to undertake fraudulent GST transactions in a bid to avail input tax credit or fake bills without actual supply of goods.
Read more at: The Indian Express
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