Govt brings in Goods and Services Tax Network under PMLA ambit

The changes have been made for provisions under Section 66 of the PMLA, which provides for the disclosure of information.

In November last year, the government added 15 agencies to this list, including the Competition Commission of India, National Investigation Agency, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, State Police, Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of External Affairs, National Intelligence Grid, Central Vigilance Commission among others for sharing of information between these agencies and the Enforcement Directorate.

The move to include GSTN under the money laundering law comes amid rising cases of GST fraud and fake registrations. Experts said under the money laundering provisions, tax authorities will get more power to trace the original beneficiary in case of fraud.

GST authorities have been probing fake registrations and fraudulent availing of input tax credits.

In the two-month-long drive against fake registrations, which began on May 16, over 69,600 suspected GST identification numbers (GSTINs) were identified for physical verification by field tax officials.

Of this, over 59,000 GSTINs have been verified, and over 17,000 or 25 per cent were found to be non-existent.