Bhubaneswar, Dec 13: In a major financial fraud case, the Odisha Vigilance has arrested three individuals, including a government official, for their alleged involvement in a Rs 4.03 crore VAT refund scam.
The accused have been identified as Satyaki Pattanaik and Deeptikanta Choudhury, both private individuals, and Abinash Pradhan, a staff member of the CT & GST Department, Bhubaneswar, currently serving as Assistant Commercial Tax Officer (ACTO) in Jeypore. Their arrests followed a detailed investigation conducted by the Vigilance Department.
According to the inquiry, the accused reportedly conspired with other officials from the CT & GST Department to fraudulently secure a VAT refund worth Rs 4.03 crore. They allegedly manipulated financial records and submitted forged statutory forms while impersonating authorised representatives of M/s G.E Verona T&D Ltd (formerly GE T&D India Ltd).
Based on these findings, a criminal case has been registered under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including charges of forgery, impersonation, and criminal conspiracy.
Following the discovery of substantial evidence linking them to the scam, the accused were produced before the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Bhubaneswar, on Thursday.
The Vigilance Department has confirmed that further investigations are underway to identify other individuals possibly connected to the fraud.
