The Central GST office here was locked for several hours by chartered accountants on Thursday night as a protest against the arrest of two fellow CAs over an alleged Rs 15-crore GST refund scam. On Friday, the police said the protest by the CAs is still continuing but the GST office has been allowed to function.
Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Gurugram chapter, said they had locked the office for several hours to protest the arrest of the two CAs over the alleged Goods and Services Tax refund scam.
Terming the arrest "completely wrong," ICAI members said the refund was issued with the connivance of the officials.
The protestors claimed that rather than punishing the chartered accountants, action should have been taken against the benefitting party -- a trader and lapsing GST official, they said.
According to police, a few days back, some men had faked up a business and filed a refund of Rs 15 crores of GST.
The two arrested accountants allegedly attested their documents and aided in all official work which helped in the release of the refund, police had said.
After verification of chartered accountant, officers too do their own scrutiny before releasing the refund. So, why was refund issued without investigation in this case? And now they are blaming the CAs, the members asked.
From Comments section:-
Ashish Ramawat :-Department issued 15cr. refund in 107 minutes !!! They were running syndicate alongwith assessee who took refund. Investigation started on CGST Commissioner who used CA as scapegoat. CGST Commissioner's husband is already in jail for some other case and she herself working on a paycut as was found guilty in an earlier CBI investigation.
Abhishek Sahay :CA are being made soft targets, GST department is making fraud conspiracy with the beneficiary company and getting kickback.. and arrest innocent CA who issued a certificate basis the shared documents by the company. Why department issued a refund within 110 minutes?
Rakesh Malhotra:-Punishment to the govt officials giving refund without due diligence is a genuine expectation. Similarly a professional (CA) signing documents without application of mind is also guilty.
Even without malafide intentions, negligence and professional laxity cannot be pardoned.
Strict actions are essential for curbing attitude of carelessness and moral turpitude in our systems.
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