ED records statement of industrialist Vikas Garg in Rs 190 crore customs duty fraud

Enforcement Directorate

The Enforcement Directorate, on November 21, recorded industrialist Vikas Garg’s statement after an eight-hour questioning in connection with an alleged Rs 190-crore customs duty fraud. Garg appeared at the ED’s Mumbai zonal office and was questioned from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The officials had summoned Garg to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case where several entities are alleged to have evaded customs duty by using forged export documentation.

The investigation is related to the alleged importing of goods duty-free, showing them as exports only on paper, and allegedly diverting them into the domestic market. This has resulted in a loss to the government of Rs 190 crore.

Earlier, the ED is said to have conducted searches under section 17 of PMLA, 2002 in the case of M/s Titan Sea & Air Services Pvt Ltd and others, recorded on the basis of FIR registered by CBI, EO-III, Delhi for creating fake export documents including invoices and shipping bills, to misrepresent goods as being exported to Nepal and Bangladesh, while actually selling them domestically and thereby evaded the custom duty of Rs 190 crore.

The residential premises and business premises of Vikas Garg, one of the key persons behind the evasion of customs duty of Rs. 190 crores and his employees, in whose names the entities were incorporated outside India for effecting imports and exports in their names, were searched on November 12.

Incriminating evidences in relation to the imports and exports and digital devices of key persons were seized.

Garg’s name had earlier surfaced in the ED’s probe into the Mahadev betting app. In April, the agency conducted searches at his premises in connection with the case.