Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized assets valued at Rs 16.5 crore in connection with a money laundering investigation involving fraudulent billing practices to evade value-added tax (VAT). The investigation was based on an FIR filed at Vishrambaug police station, Sangli district, against the fake firm Trishul Enterprises and associated parties. The allegations indicate that the firms generated false sales invoices totalling Rs 458 crore across Maharashtra, evading VAT payments of Rs 28 crore.
ED’s investigation revealed that fraudulent invoices worth Rs 919 crore were generated through 17 shell companies, without any actual commercial transactions. These shell companies were established under names of proxy individuals and were operated by Manoj Biyani, Paresh Shah, Rahim Hattiwale, Arvind Ladda and Rishikesh Ladda. In a statement released on Thu, ED said, “Suresh Parekh, Dinesh Parekh and Sushant Ladda were the kingpin of the whole VAT scam and used to control all entities and persons. Through this modus, commission of 2%, of the value of fake bills, amounting to Rs. 18.67 crore was earned by the three which was subsequently distributed.” — Vijay V Singh