CHENNAI: The Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore units of the directorate general of GST intelligence, arrested two persons and seized fake invoices amounting to goods worth Rs 220 crore, during search operations conducted on December 20. They had carried out simultaneous searches at offices and residential houses across Chennai and Madurai, during which a racket involving several firms, was busted.
Several incriminating documents, that included invoices of fake invoices issued on the letterhead of various firms, were seized.
Cheque books with pre-signed cheque leaves, pertaining to 45 bank accounts, rubber stamps in the name of 30 companies, and mobile phones were seized. Applicable taxes on these invoices were not paid since June 2018, said a release from the Coimbatore zonal unit. It was found that the persons on whose names the invoices were issued, had availed input credit tax worth Rs 40 crore without receiving or supplying goods.
Payments that were received or made through banking channels, were later shared through domestic Hawala accounts, officials have found.“The modus operandi included the creation of several fake companies and bank accounts using PAN and Aadhar card of family members. Then a maze of transactions were made without supplying goods,” stated the release.