CGST Vadodara busted syndicate of illicit/ clandestine clearance of goods under invoices of fake firms

The officers of Central GST, Vadodara-l Commissionerate, have busted a syndicate of illicit/ clandestine clearance of goods under guise of invoices and E Way Bills issued on the GSTIN of fake firms situated at Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Mumbai. The action was taken on the basis of specific intelligence as well as further data analysis on GSTN and E way bill portals.

The officers have booked a case against M/S. M. K. Traders having their Principal Place of Business at GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara, regarding Illicit/clandestine clearance of taxable goods without issuing of invoice and without payment of appropriate GST amounting to approx Rs. 73.89 Crore. As per the release, The modus employed by the taxpayer shows that they were indulged in illicit/ clandestine clearance/ supply of taxable goods, i.e. M. S. Scrap/ S. S. Scrap under the guise of E-way-bills of other registered but fake units.

From preliminary scrutiny of the seized documents, the data available on E-way Portal/GSTN portal, it is found that M/S M. K. Traders has used credentials/GSTIN of 23 fake firms and prepared invoices and E-way bills of these firms and cleared its goods under cover of invoices/ E-way bills shown to be prepared by these fake firms. In total it has illicitly cleared goods amounting to approx Rs.432.51 Crores, involving GST to the tune of Rs. 73.89 Crore (approx.) without cover of legal tax invoice and without payment of appropriate GST.

Illicit/clandestine clearance of goods without issuing of invoice and without payment of GST is an offense under Section 132 (1) (a) of the CGST Act, 2017.

Mukim Noormohammad Pathan (Alias-Bhola Bhai), the main person of M/S M. K. Traders, dealing with all operational activities of the firm, has been arrested on 07.11.2020 and was produced before the CJM, Vadodara on 09.11.2020, after the medical examination and COVID test. Mukim Noormohammad Pathan has been sent to judicial custody by the Chief Judicial Magistrate. Further investigations are in progress in this matter.

Firm action has been taken by Vadodara Zone in this financial year of 2020 – 21, has resulted in detection of 83 cases involving GST evasion of 240 Crores and 5 accused have been arrested so far.