Bengal: Amit Mitra urges Sitharaman to call council meet on GST fraud

Kolkata, Jan 8 (PTI) Expressing anguish over reports of GST frauds, Amit Mitra, principal chief advisor to the West Bengal chief minister, on Monday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, requesting her to take immediate corrective measures to put a check on the laundering of public money.

In a two-page letter, Mitra urged Sitharaman to overhaul the entire GST eco-system and to call the full GST Council meeting immediately to deliberate upon the root causes of frauds.

"I write this to you out of extreme concern and deep anguish. The manner in which the news concerning GST frauds is making headlines even after six and a half years of its implementation is appalling.

"I urge you to take immediate corrective measures to put a check on this massive laundering of public money and for that, if necessary, the entire GST eco-system should be overhauled," Mitra, the former West Bengal finance minister, wrote in the letter.

He also urged the union minister to "call the full GST Council meeting immediately to exclusively deliberate upon the root causes of this massive fraud and find timebound solutions to this heinous menace".

The economist referred to the union government's press statement issued on Sunday, mentioning that the special drive against fake registration that was launched since mid-May, 2023 has resulted in detection of 29,273 bogus firms involved in suspected input tax credit evasion of Rs 44,015 crore.

He also highlighted the Sitharaman's reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 31 last year, stating that during the period from 2020-21 till May 2023, a total of 43,516 cases of GST fraud was detected involving Rs 2,68,537 crore.

"We must admit that these figures are astonishing, shocking and immensely distressing and a testimony to the fact as to how deep-rooted the tentacles of fraud are in the GST eco-system.

"Today GST fraud is not confined to a particular state but is proliferating across the nation. The way public money is being laundered in the form of GST evasion is unprecedented. I have been cautioning about the irreparable damage that is being caused to GST on account of fraud since long," he wrote. PTI