DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Punjab's Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema Friday said an investigation by the state taxation department's enforcement wing has uncovered fake billing scams worth thousands of crores of rupees.Two firms dealing in gold were found to have generated fake bills worth Rs 860 crore, while 303 firms dealing in iron were involved in fake billings of Rs 4,044 crore, he said here.

Additionally, 68 firms were found to have engaged in fake billing of Rs 533 crore after getting their firms registered in other names, he noted.

Cheema, who also holds the Excise and Taxation department portfolio, said, "On inspection of a firm dealing in gold in Amritsar, the enforcement wing found that fake bills of gold worth Rs 336 crore were made by the said firm for sale and purchase of gold".

He said that the registrations of the two firms from which the company showed that it has purchased gold have been cancelled, and these firms further have no record of purchasing any gold.

Referring to the Ludhiana-based firm, which allegedly did similar manipulation in gold transactions, the finance minister said gold sale-purchase was made against fake bills worth Rs 424 crore by this firm.

In this case, the registrations of the two firms from, which the company showed the purchase of gold have been cancelled, and in this case too, these firms had no record of purchasing any gold.

Apart from this, giving information about the fake sale-purchase of iron worth Rs 4,044 crore by 303 firms, the minister said that 11 firms out of these firms are registered with Punjab, 86 firms with other states, and 206 firms with the central government. He said that of the total 217 firms registered with the Centre and Punjab had an outstanding ITC of 89.7 crore, which has been blocked by the Centre and state governments.

"A total fake ITC of Rs 707 crore was claimed in this case," he said.

Cheema said the state taxation department has taken action against all 11 firms, and their registration has been cancelled or suspended, and the action is ongoing as per the law while the list of the remaining 206 firms has been given to the concerned authorities of the central government.

Meanwhile, while giving information about the case of 68 firms involved in fake billing registered in other persons' names, he said the department has identified five persons and filed an FIR against them at Ludhiana and a total of 11 persons have been named.

Bogus billing of Rs 533 crore has been found in this case, "due to which nearly Rs 100 crore of fake ITC has been claimed", he added.

Referring to the efforts being made by the state to prevent tax evasion, the finance minister said that the department is linking the GST registration in the state with Aadhaar-based biometric authentication so that the persons registering in the name of others can be identified and caught in time.
(editor@dailyworld.in)