No anticipatory bail to a professional who is accused of forgery and GST evasion

The Hon’ble Delhi High Court in AMAN GUPTA VERSUS STATE - 2023 (9) TMI 344 - DELHI HIGH COURT refused the anticipatory bail of a Chartered Accountant who is an alleged offender and being charged with issuing fake invoices and e-way bills. The case also involves offences covered under Section 467 r.w. 471 of the IPC which is an economic offence involving loss to the public exchequer.

Facts:

Mr. Umang Garg (“the Complainant”) the owner of M/s Ulagarasan Impex Pvt. Ltd. was arrested by Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI), Gurugram (“the Respondent”) on April 05, 2022 on the ground that various companiesowned by him were involved in GST evasion by way of availingand passingfake Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims.

However, the Complainant was granted bail on April 19, 2022 after depositing INR 1 crore as GST.

The Complainant stated that he appointed CA Aman Gupta (“the Applicant”) to look into the books of accounts of his companies for day-to-day business for last two years.

Firstly, the Complainant filed police complaint on May 30, 2022 and later filed FIR on September 04, 2022 and alleged that the Applicant induced him to purchase goods through different firms, which the Applicant claimed to be of his known persons. The Complainant purchased goods from such firms and made regular payment of taxes and deposited payments of the said goods in various accounts, existing in different names on the order of the Applicant. However, the Complainant later got to know that the said firms are bogus and non-existent.

Moreover, the Complainant also alleged that the Applicant and his associates have duped him of INR 2,81,99,475/- by creating fake, forged and fabricated firms and received payments including GST in different accounts against the purchased goods from the Complainant, but have not deposited GST.

The Applicant filed anticipatory bail before the Session court who dismissed the first anticipatory bail application vide order dated September 15, 2022.

Thereafter, the Applicant filed the next anticipatory bail before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court.

The Applicant submitted that it has never worked on accounts/returns of the Complainant since, the regular accounting and filing work was handled by the team of accountants of the Complainant.

The Applicant contended that, there was no bar for the Applicant to file a fresh anticipatory bail application as the Applicant was willing to deposit a sum of INR 75 lakhs and settle the matter with the Complainant and the present dispute is civil in nature, which pertains to recovery of money and the criminal proceedings cannot be resorted to for making recoveries of money.

Issue:

Whether the professional who is suspect in evasion of tax under GST can seek anticipatory bail?

Held:

The Hon’ble Delhi High Court in AMAN GUPTA VERSUS STATE - 2023 (9) TMI 344 - DELHI HIGH COURTheld as under:

• Observed that, the present case is not just relating to the Applicant having duped the Complainant of a huge sum of money, it also involves allegations of issuing fake invoices and e-way bills for the purposes of GST evasion, which is an economic offence involving loss to the public exchequer. Thus, such offences need to be viewed seriously.
• Noted that, considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case and the fact that the Applicant, the court is of the view that custodial interrogation of the Applicant is required.
• Held that, since the allegations levied against the Applicant are serious and being in the nature of forgery and GST evasion by creating false invoices issued by non-existent entities.
• Rejected the anticipatory bail of the Applicant.

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