KOCHI: In a major operation carried out by a central excise team, a fraud GST racket operated by cartels were unearthed and two persons were arrested for availing GST input tax credit amounting to E35 crore by submitting fake GST invoices. An official release said the arrested are identified as Gopakumar A, 49, and Rasheed K E, 37, who were into plywood business at Perumbavoor. The arrested were produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
Officials said the racket issued fake invoices valued at around E200 crore to various GST registrations and thereby passed on fake Input Tax Credit amounting to E35 crore. “There are 14 GST registrations involved in the cartel and most of the entities were found to be taken in the name of poor labourers,” the release said. The accused were arrested under Section 69 of the CGST Act 2017.