LoP demands CBI probe into ‘ ₹1.1K-cr GST fraud’
Kerala's opposition leader VD Satheesan claims a ₹1,100 crore GST fraud by scammers using unsuspecting people's names, urging a CBI probe.
Kerala’s Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan has alleged that a gang of fraudsters has committed ‘GST fraud’ amounting to ₹1,100 crore in the 2024-25 financial year (FY) by obtaining registrations in the name of common people without their knowledge.
Satheesan claimed that the fraud has led to a loss of ₹200 crore in GST for the State treasury and accused the LDF government officials of merely cancelling the registrations and not conducting a further probe to bring the accused to light. He demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into it.
“GST registration can be done in anyone’s name. Currently, while doing GST registration, you can provide someone else’s bank account. In this case, while the registrations were carried out in the names of ordinary people, the fraud was committed through the bank accounts of the accused. At the same time, GST and Income tax liabilities will fall on the common man,” the Congress leader said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The details of the fraud were relayed to the state government by the GST intelligence department in Pune in February this year.
“The state GST department has not investigated who is behind the fraud. It has also not asked the police to investigate it. The state has not informed the common people whose names were used to commit the fraud. It seems like the government is not even interested in recouping its ₹200 crore loss,” Satheesan alleged.
He said that a contract labourer in Ernakulam district found out about ₹43 crore-worth transactions in his name when he filed an Income Tax return in connection with his daughter’s education loan. A complaint has been filed in this regard with the Wadakkanchery police. Other complainants have even approached the district police chiefs and top officials of the state GST department.
“Despite such a big fraud, why has the government not gone further than merely cancelling the GST fake registrations? why has it not informed the victims or given them legal protection? The GST administration in Kerala is in a deplorable state. Tax evasion is rampant,” the LoP alleged.
