Businessman held for availing Rs 6.54-cr ITC fraudulently in Surat

He was produced before a local court Wednesday which sent him to judicial custody. (Representational)

A Surat-based textile businessman has been arrested for claiming input tax credit (ITC) worth Rs 6.54 crore from the government by showing alleged business with 13 “non-existent” firms, Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) officials said.

Acting on a tip-off, DGGI officials had raided a textile firm, Waidan Impex Company, on Ved Road in Surat a few days ago. On the basis of the documents recovered from its premises, officials further carried out raids on seven other premises of the same company in Surat city.

After probing the documents recovered from these places, officials noted that though the firm owner, Mohammed Zayd Amin Chakkiwala, had used GST number of the firm to show business dealings with 13 firms and further claim input tax credit, no physical purchases were actually made from these companies.

These 13 firms, from where the goods were purchased, also allegedly did not physically exist on the addresses mentioned on the papers, officials said.

By showing alleged transactions from these non-existing firms and submitting invoices, Chakkiwala obtained a total of Rs 6.54 crore input tax credit from the government and the same amount was passed on to other parties, officials said.

On Tuesday, the DGGI booked Chakkiwala, a resident of Adajan Patia area in Surat, under various sections of the CGST Act. He was produced before a local court Wednesday which sent him to judicial custody.

DGGI officials said so far only 13 of the total 73 firms mentioned by Chakkiwala had been probed. The officials claimed that the amount of fraud may go up as further investigation was underway.

© The Indian Express (P) Ltd