The Delhi High Court granted anticipatory bail to a person alleged of creating bogus export firms, fraudulently availed ITC to the tune of Rs.45 crores.
The petitioner, Lupita Saluja sought anticipatory bail in relation to the enquiry/investigation being conducted by the respondent under Central Goods & Service Tax Act, 2017.
The petitioner along with her husband has been alleged to have created five bogus export firms and fraudulently availed ITC of Rs.45 crores upon the strength of fake invoices providing fabricated information on E-way bill portal.
On enquiry, it was found that all their suppliers were either non-existent at the declared principal place or the business address given in the GST registration. Moreover, none of the transporters have transported the good for the companies in question, however, only one transporter disclosed that he transported the goods from a warehouse to ICD TKD and not from any of the suppliers as claimed by the husband of the applicant in his statement dated November 17, 2020 recorded under section 70 and 174 of CGST Act.
The applicant and her husband are active directors of the abovementioned five companies and were well aware of all the tax related dealings of the companies.
The applicant in her voluntary statement has stated that she signed all the financial documents regarding day to day work of these firms. However, during investigation, it has been revealed that the applicant was drawing an annual salary of Rs.7,20,000/- whereas her husband was drawing an annual salary of Rs.6,00,000/-.
The single judge bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait noted that the Investigating Agency has conducted as many as 5 raids including the residence and office premises of the applicant and seized the evidence such as original documents, purchase and sale invoices, ledgers and Bank Statements, hard disks, CPU, export details, etc.
The Court was of the view that custodial interrogation of the applicant is not required.
The court directed the Arresting Officer that in the event of arrest, the petitioner or applicant shall be released on furnishing a personal bond in the sum of Rs.25,000.
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