The Patiala House Court has dismissed a bail application filed by a Chartered Accountant in a GST scam worth Rs.7,60,89,626/-. The CA was allegedly involved in preparing forged certificates for bogus companies claiming GST refunds and therefore, charged with an offence under Section 132 (1) (i) read with 132(1) (b) (c) (e) (f) CGST Act 2017.
The Bench of Manoj Kumar Rana (Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate) observed that the CA is involved in causing a loss to the government treasury and therefore, he has committed the alleged offence. It was observed that he has actively participated in the preparation of forged certificates for bogus or non-existent companies to claim a GST refund, causing loss to the public exchequer
The applicant/accused has been practicing as a C.A. for the past 6 years. The applicant submitted that he was falsely implicated with the allegations that the UDIN number, ID, and password of the applicant had been misused by co-accused Gaurav Dhir. As per the allegations in the complaint, the applicant is not accused of misappropriation of a single rupee. The applicant argued that no offence under Section 132 (b), (c), or (d) of the CGST Act was made out against the applicant and nothing was recovered from the applicant.
Against the bail application, the department contended that the applicant was involved in causing a loss to the government treasury to the tune of Rs. 7,60,89,626.
The department urged that the applicant has committed an economic offence, which attacks the economy of the country. The court, while dismissing the bail application, noted that the investigation of the case is at a nascent stage and the nature of the offence is very serious.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
