Following a trial spanning more than five years, a Moonak court has sentenced an iron and steel trader to three-year jail for committing a ₹6.28-crore GST billing fraud.
The convict, Subhash Chander, proprietor of Ganapati Motors, was also fined ₹10,000 by the court of judicial magistrate first class Ankita Gupta.
He was found guilty under Sections 69, 132 (1) (b), (c) of the Punjab GST Act, 2017.
The case stems from an inquiry initiated on June 11, 2019, by the director of investigation-cum-additional commissioner, state taxes, Punjab, to investigate tax evasion by Khanauri-based firms.
Inquiry revealed that Subhash Chander had claimed wrongful GST input tax credit (ITC) by generating invoices/bills through non-existent Delhi-based firms without any physical delivery of goods.
Holding the trader guilty, the court observed, “The accused very cleverly committed fraud and cheated the GST department and caused loss of ₹6,28,20,790 to the state exchequer by evasion of tax. The accused has made transactions of more than 100 crores and evaded tax of ₹6,28,20,790. Not a single penny has been paid in the government treasury and the accused with a pre-mediated mind caused loss to the economy of the entire country,” the court observed.
“Taxation is a way by which the government earns money to provide better infrastructure for the public of the country. People, like the present accused, for their own greed, commit fraud on the department and scavenge the limited resources of the government, which would eventually be used for the development of society and the country at large. The greed of man when crosses such an extent that he cheats his own country and its economy of rightful dues shows that such a person is beyond reformation,” it added.
The court also held the convict liable to deposit ₹6,28,20,790 in the account of the GST department/state exchequer of government of Punjab for the wrong ITC availed by him.
