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Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: At a time when GST tax frauds continue to surface on a regular basis from Rourkela, instances of tax evasion have also started coming to the fore from various other parts of Odisha.
One Bigyan Swain of Pitamberpur in Paradip has reportedly been served notice for Rs 10 crore tax fraud. Swain has been accused of making transactions to the tune of several crores by opening a fake company named Urja Steel.
However, he denied the charges and claimed, "The GST officials called me up to inform that a company is running on my name. They sought my statement in that connection. I am a daily wage labourer and have no idea about the transactions, however, I am regularly being grilled by the officials till 8 pm."
On the other hand, Rourkela seems to be turning into the hub of GST frauds. Recently, a vegetable vendor was served notice for over Rs 100 crore tax fraud. “GST officials informed me about the tax fraud of Rs 100.09 crore in my name. I have no idea about the transactions,” said the vendor, Kartik Kamila.
Earlier, a driver from the Steel City was also charged with gross tax liability for allegedly receiving taxable goods amounting to over Rs 23 crore and further availing over Rs 4 crore under CGST and SGST on the strength of fake invoice.
A poor lady from the Steel City, who was also accused of tax fraud, was in shock after being informed about the same and said, "I have not seen even Rs 1 lakh in my life but I was informed that a transaction of Rs 15 crore has been made in my name."
Since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), fraudsters are committing massive GST frauds by opening fictitious companies and issuing fake invoices among others.
So far, more than 13 persons have already been arrested in connection with tax evasions while over 100 GST fraud cases are under the scanner of the department.
GST commissioner Manabhanjan Acharya said, "Everything is under our scanner with the help of technology. They can't escape and we want to inform that action will be taken against them."
Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) Debashis Sahoo said, "We have detected over 50 such instances in around one month which amounts to a tax fraud of more than Rs 1100 crore."
