New Delhi, Jun 21 (PTI) The CBI on Saturday searched seven locations in Bihar and Jharkhand in a 100-crore scam, allegedly executed by claiming GST through bogus export bills, with five customs officers, including the additional commissioner GST, Patna, as the main accused, officials said.

The CBI conducted searches at two locations in Patna, two in Purnea, and one each in Jamshedpur, Nalanda, and Munger, finding seven bars of gold, each weighing 100 grams, they said.

The scam was exposed when an abnormal increase in exports of tiles and automobile parts to Nepal was noticed in Land Customs Stations (LCS) in Jaynagar, Bhimnagar and Bhittamore during 2022-23, officials said.

According to the CBI FIR, around 30 exporters have been named in it, having been accused of showing fake exports of tiles and automobile spare parts from the three LCS to get tax refund from the GST office.

It is alleged that four customs superintendents, Neeraj Kumar and Manmohan Sharma in Jayanagar, and Tarun Kumar Sinha and Rajeev Ranjan Sinha in Bhimnagar, colluded with Additional Commissioner Ranvijay Kumar to extract tax refunds against fake export claims, in return for bribes.

All officials, along with 30 suspected exporters, and a Kolkata-based clearing agent, Ganga Singh, have been named in the FIR as accused.

The agency has alleged that fake export bills were created for amounts less than Rs 10 lakh, which is the highest amount that a customs superintendent is allowed to clear.

The CBI FIR alleged that, in all, fake exports to the tune of Rs 800 crore were shown by these superintendents with goods carrying GST duties of 28 per cent and 18 per cent, two of the higher GST slabs, which enabled them to claim refunds of around Rs 100 crore.

The investigation also showed that the firms were not functioning from their registered address.

As part of the fraud, the suspects presented 4,161 E-way bills of vehicles — two-wheelers, buses, and even ambulances. But the initial probe showed that none of the vehicles mentioned in the bills matched with the database of the SSB, the force that guards the Indo-Nepal border.

The abnormal increase in exports was allegedly ignored by Ranvijay Kumar, who gave "oral instructions" to the superintendents to process Let Export Order (LEO) in respect of shipping bills.

Besides this, he allegedly used to pass the details of fake exports to be processed at these LCS either directly or through Ganga Singh, CBI said. PTI ABS VN VN

GST fraud via bogus export claims uncovered, alleging collusion between customs officers and exporters to claim illicit refunds. Allegations describe a scheme to obtain GST refunds by showing fictitious exports through land customs stations, with customs officers accused of authorising Let Export Orders and clearing consignments while using a clearing agent to channel instructions. Investigators cite thousands of E-way bills not matching actual goods or border-force records, firms not operating from registered addresses, and manipulation of procedural thresholds to present exports under higher GST slabs to maximise refundable tax.