Punjab minister: Fake billing scam worth thousands of crores of rupees exposed
New Delhi: Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema has said that an investigation conducted by the enforcement branch of the state taxation department has unearthed a fake billing scam worth thousands of crores of rupees. He said it was revealed that two firms dealing in gold had generated fake bills worth Rs 860 crore, while 303 firms dealing in iron had generated fake bills worth Rs 4,044 crore. Besides, 68 firms got themselves registered under other names and were involved in generating fake bills worth Rs 533 crore. Cheema, who also holds the charge of the Excise and Taxation Department, said, “On investigating a firm dealing in gold in Amritsar, the enforcement branch found that the said firm had generated fake bills worth Rs 336 crore for the purchase and sale of gold.” He said the registration of the two firms from whom the said firm had purchased gold has been cancelled and these firms have not purchased any gold further. Referring to a Ludhiana-based firm involved in similar fraud in gold transactions, the state Finance Minister said that the said firm had bought and sold gold with fake bills worth Rs 424 crore.
In this case, the registrations of two firms from whom the company had shown buying gold have been cancelled and in this case too, these firms had no record of buying gold. Giving information about the purchase and sale of fake iron worth Rs 4,044 crore by 303 firms, Mr Cheema said that out of these, 11 firms are from Punjab, 86 from other states and 206 firms are registered with the Central Government. He said that 217 firms registered with the Centre and Punjab had ITC dues of Rs 89.7 crore, which has been stopped by the Central and State Governments. He said that a total of Rs 707 crore worth of fake ITC was claimed in this case. He said the State Tax Department has taken action against all the 11 firms by cancelling or suspending their registration and further action is underway as per law, while the list of the remaining 206 firms has been submitted to the concerned authorities of the Central Government.Meanwhile, giving details of the case of 68 firms involved in bogus billing registered in the name of other persons, he said the Department has identified five persons and registered an FIR against them in Ludhiana. He said bogus billing of Rs 533 crore has been detected in this case, leading to bogus ITC claim of about Rs 100 crore.Giving details of the efforts being made by the State to curb tax evasion, the State Finance Minister said the Punjab Tax Department is linking GST registrations in the State with ‘Aadhaar-based Biometric Authentication’ to identify and nab persons registering in the name of others.
