Ex-accountant of Indo-Swift company denied bail in Rs 593-crore VAT scam

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 15

An accused in the Rs 593-crore Value Added Tax (VAT) scam was denied bail by a local court. The accused is Vipin Mishra, former accountant of Indo-Swift company, who was arrested last month.

The defence counsel had claimed that he had been falsely implicated and is in jail since September 11. It had added that the trial would take a long time and the accused was not required to be kept in the jail. It also said that all documentary evidences required in the case had been recovered from Mishra.

On the other hand, public prosecutor Manu Kakkar had argued that Mishra was the one who paid Rs 3.50 lakh for getting forged orders from the Sales Department. He said this was disclosed by the director of the company NR Munjal. Using these fake orders, the debt of Rs 5.94 crore was shown as just Rs 11,000.

On July 17, 2018, the VAT Tribunal court was held in the UT Administration, which was being presided over by UT Adviser Parimal Rai. The Indo Swift Company was imposed a VAT of Rs 5.90 crore by the Excise Department. On being asked by the Adviser, the company’s counsel said the matter finished on March 31, 2015.

It added that the Excise Department challaned them and they had paid Rs 5,000. The Adviser doubted this and asked as to how an amount of Rs 5.90 crore could be let go off for just Rs 5,000. An enquiry was marked and the fraud was unearthed after which the Vigilance registered a case.