Case Law Details
Riyaz Rafiq Padela Vs Commissioner of Central Excise & ST (CESTAT Mumbai)
CESTAT Mumbai held that offence of money-laundering committed by an individual with a deliberate design with the motive to enhance his gains, disregarding the interests of nation and society as a whole and which by no stretch of imagination can be termed as offence of trivial nature.
Facts- During the period from 19.07.2005 to 24.03.2006, eighty-five claims of rebate were filed by five entities claiming themselves to be the merchant exporter with valid IEC number. After causing verification of Central Excise duty paid status of the goods from the Central Excise Range where the goods were manufactured and from JNCH from where the goods were exported, 19 rebate claims were sanctioned.
Based upon the intelligence and on subsequent investigations it was found that the goods were neither manufactured nor were exported and rebate claims were filed on the basis of fake documents. Thus, it was alleged that five merchant exporters along with various other co-noticees had defrauded the government exchequer. It was also found that the three merchant exporters whose rebate claims were sanctioned did not existed at all and were only created to defraud the government exchequer.
Conclusion- Held that from the facts as stated in the impugned order we are very clear in our mind that the appellants had conspired and perpetuated the alleged fraud by filing these rebate claims to defraud the exchequer of the amount claimed by them as rebate without payment of any central excise duty and without exporting any goods. It is settled principle in law and the legal maxim “fraud vitiates everything” is very relevant to the facts herein.
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