Commercial frauds worth Rs 1,600 cr under govt scanner

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is investigating cases of commercial frauds worth over Rs 1,600 crore (Rs 16 billion) done on the basis of forged import papers, the Rajya Sabha was told.

The DRI has found that certain individuals and group of companies were remitting several crores of rupees to foreign bank accounts misusing import documents. In some cases, the amount was remitted against the imported goods which did not reach Indian shores, the government said.

"The DRI has initiated an investigation and discovered that one individual based at Ghaziabad, along with his brother, remitted about Rs 480 crore (Rs 4.8 billion) to Hong Kong showing it as payment for import of computer parts and accessories through Foreign Post Office (FPO)," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply.

The documents submitted to the authorised dealer to show such import having taken place were found to be forged, he said.

In another case, DRI unvestigation showed one importer based in Chennai had fabricated bill of entry for transfer of Rs 240 crore (Rs 2.4 billion) abroad through banking channel, Sinha said.

"In another similar case, investigated by Customs (preventive), Mumbai, revealed that a syndicate having group of companies had misused import documents to show as legitimate imports and remitted Rs 935 crore (Rs 9.35 billion) of foreign exchange outside India," the Minister said.

The total amount involved in these cases is Rs 1,655 crore (Rs 16.55 billion).