A scam has come to light where some companies in Ludhiana received value-added tax (VAT) refund by presenting bogus documents of purchase and export.

The district excise and taxation department has claimed to have uncovered that York Enterprises and Trimur Hosiery applied for VAT refund worth more than Rs. 1.5 crore against bogus export documents. "We caught the companies before they could transfer the amount to their bank accounts and registered a case against both," said assistant excise and taxation commissioner (AETC) Tejbir Singh Sidhu.

A few days ago, the department had charged Jaldhara Enterprises with doing a similar fraud for Rs. 1.5 crore. The Punjab and Haryana high court denied bail to the owner of this factory. "We have strong input against more companies, and now we are going after them," said divisional excise and taxation commissioner (DETC) Rishipal Singh.

All certificates of export that the firms had attached were with the refund application were found to be fake, the DETC has said, adding that the applicants even created bogus purchasing firms by printing phony ledgers. "There is no scope of letting off the thieves," he said.