GST Fake Billing: Gujarat’s Bhavnagar linked to another Fake Billing Scams

Links to Bhavnagar have often been discovered in GST bogus invoicing frauds reported from various districts of Gujarat.

The most recent example is the arrest of Aadil Hassan Bajuber at Mumbai airport last week by Surat police as he attempted to flee to Dubai.

Aadil, a Bhavnagar native, is thought to be the brains behind the phoney billing fraud, which entailed 13 bogus firms being registered in Surat and fake billing transactions totaling Rs.50 crore, according to sources. The Economic Offences Cell has captured him.

Adil forged signatures on 21 rental agreements signed in the name of a Surat-based builder. These bogus corporations were then exploited to get fraudulent input tax credits.

“During the investigation, he confessed to creating a fake Aadhaar card in the name of the concerned builder using an app to be able to float bogus companies in his name,” a source stated.

In connection with another bogus billing fraud, Vadodara police detained two Bhavnagar residents, Yasin alias Uncle Ismail Magarbi and Akram Abdullah Atyan, for forming phoney businesses in Vadodara and evading Rs.8 crore in taxes.

Another multi-crore bogus billing fraud involving falsifying Aadhar-GST data occurred in Bhavnagar.

“Using documents obtained from residents of Palitana town and Bhavnagar, bogus GST registrations were made across the country, and fake billing transactions totaling crores were detected. The recent remand of undertrial prisoner Mohammad Tata in connection with two bogus billing scams in Bhavnagar also indicates that the place is emerging as a hotspot for bogus billing scams,” said a source close to the inquiry.

The state goods and services tax agency has discovered around 2,500 suspect GST registrations in an effort to combat the problem of fake invoicing; a nationwide spot verification drive is now underway.

While department officials have urged to taxpayers to comply, several have accused tax department personnel of harassment throughout the current push.

Source: Times of India