An evasion under the Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) regime has been unearthed by the department in Haryana for allegedly floating fake companies and fraudulently claiming input tax credit on transactions worth over Rs 100 crore. In connection with this, two were arrested and seven tax officials were suspended, an official said to PTI.
The arrested persons were identified as Rakesh Arora and Gourav Behl, working as assistants in the Excise and Taxation Department, he said.
The state government Thursday suspended seven ETOs for allegedly aiding these frauds by issuing C forms to the bogus firms, the official said.
The Government has been investigating fraudulent GST returns for past many months, Excise and Taxation Additional Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said.
A Special Investigating Team (SIT) was formed in March to investigate the bogus transactions by two Gurgaon-based private companies, i.e, M/s Vipin Enterprises and M/s Uma Traders for their involvement in the exercise of tax evasion during the transition from VAT to GST.
Kaushal said initially, the Gurgaon police were investigating the scam in which more than 15 firms from Gurgaon were involved in bogus refund claims.
Later, 15 firms from Panipat and two from Kaithal and some in Delhi were found involved in the bogus refunds claim, he said, adding that the state government had Thursday handed over the probe to the State Vigilance Bureau.
“We are estimating that funds worth about Rs 100 crore were syphoned off, but we will try to recover the amount,” he said.
