Court Rejects Bail Plea of Bengaluru Man in Huge ITC Fraud of Rs 400 Crore
A Bengaluru man, who was accused of being involved in Input Tax Credit fraud, has been denied bail by the city civil and sessions court.
The accused, Mohammed Kamran, allegedly claimed ITC of Rs 21.11 crore against bogus invoices without any supply of goods or services. The accused never received any goods or services from either the non-existent companies or the fake ones that are also involved in the issuance of fake invoices.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), in its objection to the bail application of the accused, said that 100 summons were issued to many suppliers and other parties engaged in the supply chain during the investigation. Apart from this, 13 voluntary statements were recorded, and 14 electronic devices were confiscated.
As per the DGGI, Kamran is the mastermind in this ITC fraud. Using his unique modus operandi, he made a group of fake suppliers and passed ITC on to them. The DGGI informed that over 450 transporters, whose names were shown in the E-way bill generated by the suppliers against the fake invoices, are also being investigated.
Additionally, the DGGI also shared that they have asked for 20 bank statements and out of them, 10 bank statements have been received, which proves that the fund was siphoned out of such entities. Over Rs 100 crore was transferred to beneficiaries, including vegetable and fruit sellers, petrol or fuel vendors and tour operators. The DGGI informed the court that the transactions were carried out through illegal modalities, including money laundering. The DGGI estimated the scam to be more than Rs 400 Crore.
Therefore, based on these objections raised by the DGGI, the bench led by Judge Rashmi M rejected the bail plea of Kamran and held that the economic crimes should be handled with strict measures.
