The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) and CGST Commissionerates have arrested 12 persons in a single day including a Chartered Accountant as a part of the ongoing nationwide drive against fake GST invoice frauds since mid-November last year.
A finance ministry official under condition of anonymity said out of 329 persons arrested so far, at least four persons have been booked under COFEPOSA (Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act) while the GST intelligence and CGST authorities have booked more than 3200 cases against 9600 fake GSTIN entities as of now and have recovered more than Rs. 1000 crore.
“GST authorities have been using deep data analytics, integrated data-sharing and AI & ML tools along with BIFA to unearth the input tax credit (ITC) utilization frauds via fake invoicing and bogus firms. The technology has enabled the GST ecosystem and intelligence authorities to identify layer-by-layer activities of these fake entities and their networking without any overreach,” the official said.
The nationwide drive against fake GST invoice frauds have helped in record GST collections in last three months with Rs. 1.15 trillion in December, 2020 and Rs. 1.20 trillion in January. The finance ministry official he expects similar higher collection trend to continue in the month of February as well.
Out of 329 arrests so far there are 131 masterminds, 113 proprietors, 46 director/managing directors, 17 partners, 5 CEOs/CFOs/CMDs, 10 chartered accountants, 4 accountants and a company secretary, broker, and GST practitioner. “Arrested persons include fake entities operators and the end beneficiaries who connive with these fraudsters running businesses of fake invoices,” the official said.
Source: livemint.com
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