Office of the Commissioner

Central GST & Customs, Vadodara-II

Arkee Garba Ground, Nr. Telephone Exchange, Subhanpura

Vadodara – 390023 (GUJARAT)

Telephone No. 0265-2388241, Fax no. 0265-2388243

PRESS RELEASE

Top Management of M/s Manpasand Beverages Ltd, Savli, Vadodara arrested in fake invoice GST fraud.

Multi locational searches were conducted on various premises of M/s Manpasand Beverages Ltd. on 23/05/2019. The searches resulted into unvelling of a huge racket of creating fake/dummy units for availing fraudulent credit and committing tax evasion of ₹ 40 crores and involving turnover of ₹ 300 crores approx.

Shri Abhishek Singh, M.D., Shri Harshvardhan Singh, brother of M.D. and Shri Paresh Thakkar, CFO, were arrested by the sleuths of Central GST Commissionerate Vadodara-II.

M/s Manpasand Beverages Ltd is a listed company on BSE and NSE with a market capitalization of 1200 crores. The continuing investigation has unearthed a network of more than 30 fake units located in various parts of the country which were used for committing fraud by availing illegal credit. The investigation regarding ultimate beneficiary of the fraud and web of shell companies is under progress.

Place : Vadodara

Date : 24.05.2019

GST fraud involving fake invoices and wrongful input tax credit leads to enforcement searches and detentions as probe continues. Allegations concern a large-scale GST fraud involving creation and use of fake or dummy units to illicitly claim input tax credit and evade tax. Enforcement searches at multiple premises uncovered a network of purportedly fictitious units used to generate fraudulent invoices and facilitate wrongful availment of credit, while investigation focuses on tracing the racket's structure and identifying ultimate beneficiaries.