New Delhi, Mar 6 (IANS): The Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerate, Delhi (East) had unearthed a network of fictitious firms set up to generate and avail fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) of GST.

The network of fictitious companies was being operated by one Naresh Dhoundiyal in connivance with one Devender Kumar Goyal, who is a Charted Accountant by profession.

Both Naresh Dhoundiyal and Devender Kumar Goyal are former employees of Essel Group. Though they are presently not working with the Essel group officially, however, they are passing on inadmissible ITC to the said group, a report by CBIC said.

Investigations indicate that a layer of genuine-looking fictitious intermediatory companies was created to pass on bogus ITC from non-existent and fake firms to the companies of Essel Group without actual supply of any goods or services. This was apparently done to enable Essel Group to avail inadmissible Input Tax Credit of GST, book expenses to evade Income Tax and inflate their turnover to push the share prices of their listed companies, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Naresh Dhoundiyal incorporated multiple fictitious intermediatory companies for Essel Group whereas, Devender Kumar Goyal, CA arranged the fake invoices of various other fictitious and non-existent firms for such fictitious intermediatory companies.

The total fake Input Tax Credit passed on by such fictitious intermediatory companies is quantified to be Rs 92.18 crore whereas, the total fake Input Tax Credit passed on by other fictitious and non-existent firms pertaining to the larger network is quantified to be more than Rs 300 crore.

The syndicate has thus defrauded the government exchequer of more than Rs 392 crore by issuing bogus invoices of more than Rs 3,000 crore without actual supply of any goods or services which is likely to increase as the investigation progresses, the statement said.

Since the inception of GST Central Tax, Delhi Zone has made 30 arrests in various cases involving GST evasion amounting to more than Rs 4,450.86 crore.