Chandigarh, July 26 (UNI) Fake billing scams involving thousands of crores of rupees have been uncovered by the the Punjab government’s tax department, a senior minister said on Friday.
State Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said following an investigation by the enforcement wing of the ax department, two firms dealing in gold were found to have generated fake bills valued at Rs 860 crore, while 303 firms dealing in iron were involved in fake billings of Rs 4044 crore.
Additionally, 68 firms were found to have engaged in fake billing of Rs 533 crore after getting their entities registered in others’ names.
Addressing a press conference, Cheema provided details on these cases. He informed that on inspection of a firm dealing in gold in Amritsar, the enforcement wing found that it had raised fake bills totalling Rs 336 crores for sale and purchase of gold.
He said the registration of the two companies from which the said firm claimed it purchased the gold had been cancelled, and these firms further had no record of purchasing any gold.
Referring to the Ludhiana-based firm which did similar manipulation in gold transactions, he said it had raised fake bills totalling Rs 424 crores regarding sale and purchase of the yellow metal.
He said in this case also, the registration of the two companies from which the said firm has shown purchase of gold had been cancelled. Also, the two companies had no record of purchasing any gold.
The minister also clamed that 303 firms had indulged in fake sale-purchase of Iron worth Rs 4044 crore. Eleven of these firms are registered with Punjab. As many as 86 firms are registered with other states, and 206 firms with the Central government.
He said the 217 firms registered with the Center and Punjab had outstanding Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Rs 89.7 crore which has been blocked by the Centre and the state government.
He said that a total fake ITC of Rs 707 crore was claimed in this case. He said that the state tax department has taken action against all 11 firms and their registration has been cancelled or suspended, and the action is ongoing as per the law, while the list of the remaining 206 firms has been given to the concerned authorities of the Central Government.
Cheema said 68 firms were found to be involved in fake billing registered in other persons’ names. He said the department has identified five persons and filed an FIR against them at Ludhiana, and a total of 11 persons have been named. He noted that bogus billing of Rs 533 crore has been found in this case, due to which nearly Rs 100 crore of fake ITC has been claimed.
