India, July 22 -- Three officials of the Delhi government's Department of Trade and Taxes and two private persons have been arrested over an alleged GST refund fraud involving wrongful refunds of around Rs 5.50 crore, the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) said on Tuesday. The accused have been identified as GST Officer Ajit Singh, GST Inspector Atal Bhardwaj, Lower Division Clerk Himanshu Malik, and private persons Ajay Kumar and Ashish Mishra, ACB said in a statement. According to the ACB, the case was registered on a complaint from the Department of Trade and Taxes over alleged irregularities in the processing and sanction of GST refund claims.
The investigation revealed that the refunds were allegedly sanctioned in violation of statutory provisions and prescribed departmental procedures. Mandatory verification and financial scrutiny were bypassed, while fabricated documents and fake photographs were allegedly used to process the claims in an unusually short period, causing a wrongful loss of about Rs 5.50 crore to the government exchequer, the statement read. The probe found that the then GST officer allegedly approved the refund claims without carrying out mandatory scrutiny, while the GST inspector allegedly uploaded fake photographs and submitted false verification reports without physically inspecting the business premises, facilitating the fraud, it read. Financial investigation further uncovered alleged layering of the fraud proceeds through multiple bank accounts and shell entities, according to the ACB. The ACB alleged part of the proceeds of crime was used to buy two flats in Rohini through a relative of an accused official. In its first such action under the BNSS, the agency attached the properties as the investigation continues.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.