5 ETOS held for ₹100cr GST evasion racket in Punjab
PATIALA :Busting a statewide tax evasion nexus of government officials and transporters, the Punjab vigilance bureau on Friday arrested six excise officials from among around 12 it booked for causing losses to the tune of ₹100 crore to state exchequer by letting go goods carriers without paying taxes.
The officials allegedly were on the rolls of some businessman and were being paid bribes on monthly basis.
Most of the officials found involved in the racket are from the excise department’s mobile wing. A deputy excise and taxation commissioner is among those booked.
Chief director of vigilance bureau BK Uppal said, “After a massive groundwork, we busted the Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion racket in which traders and transporters in cahoots with taxation officials were causing loss of several crores of rupees to the state exchequer.”
MODUS OPERANDI
The accused officials were allegedly facilitating goods carriers cross barriers without bills or after undervaluing the billing to evade tax.
The transporters used to pay ‘monthly’ to every official from ₹30,000 to ₹2 lakh, depending on the rank of an official.
This came to the fore in phone calls tapped by the vigilance bureau that worked for almost nine months to bust this racket.
From recording phones, doing recce at barriers, sending sleuths to know the modus operandi, the bureau did all to bust the web of tax evaders and their facilitators, it is learnt.
The bureau is trying to get its hands on one Vijay Kumar of Khanna (Ludhiana) whose name has surfaced as a conduit between the transporters and the tax officials.
Punjab has been facing a big shortfall in the GST collections. “We have booked a dozen officials and two transporters by name. Six officials have been arrested, while a manhunt is on to nab the others,” said Ashish Kapur, assistant inspector general (AIG) of vigilance bureau. He said deputy excise and taxation commissioner Simran Brar; Muktsar excise and taxation officer (ETO) Varun Nagpal, Faridkot ETO Satpal Multani, Shambhu (mobile wing) ETO Kalicharan, Amritsar ETO Japsimran Singh, Moga ETO Piara Singh, Fazilka ETO Ved Parkash Jakhar, inspector Ram Kumar (posted in Jalandhar), and two civilians Ravinandan Singh and Shivkumar are among those booked.
The vigilance bureau recorded phone conversations of tax officials with transporters wherein discussions were held on monthly bribe for ‘passing’ the trucks at the state border barriers.
The name of a senior lady official of the excise department is also cropping up in the case, it is learnt.
“Also, several names from the state GST department have also been found in codes. We will find out their identity after the custodial interrogation of the accused,” said the AIG, adding the entire operation was supervised by senior officials.
After a massive groundwork, we busted the GST evasion racket in which traders and transporters in cahoots with taxation officials were causing loss of several crores to the state exchequer. BK UPPAL, chief director of Punjab vigilance bureau