New Delhi, March 23 (IANS): The CGST Meerut team has busted a major racket of fake GST invoices of Rs 1,708 crores used for claiming refunds of Input Tax Credit (ITC) worth Rs 281 crore.

A chain of fake firms and companies operating from Delhi, Moradabad and Meerut were floated by fraudsters to procure and generate invoices without actual supply of goods and avail as well as pass on ITC.

The fraudulent ITC was passed to the other existing firms after circulation of invoices through a chain of fake firms/ companies which are non- existing.

The authorities have arrested three persons on March 20, in this matter and produced before the Economic Offences Court at Meerut. They have been sent to jail on judicial remand for 14 days.

A finance ministry statement said that the fake firms involved in the racket were operating from a small Janta Flat in Rohini Sector-6, New Delhi.

The modus operandi, inter alia, involved not only creating fake firms/ companies by misusing the IDs of different people but also purchasing non-active companies from others and getting the names of directors changed and using these for fake GST billing purposes.

Before passing the ITC to ultimate business buyers, ITC was rotated multiple times among the non-existing firms and companies to make it difficult to find the trail.

Against these fake invoices, ITC was passed on to existing firms/ companies for further utilisation in the payment of GST. The end recipients from these fake firms made payment through Bank which was subsequently withdrawn and returned back to those end recipients in cash after deduction of certain commission.

Further investigation in the matter is under progress.