The GST authorities are now looking into BharatPe books of the last four years to see whether fake invoices were issued for services as well.

The GST intelligence authorities have expanded the investigation into alleged tax invasion by fintech firm BharatPe. The authorities are also now probing issuance of fake invoices by people people close to ousted co-founder Ashneer Grover, news agency PTI reported.

The GST authorities are now looking into BharatPe books of the last four years to see whether fake invoices were issued for services as well.

Ashneer Grover, co-founder of BharatPe and his wife Mahduri Jain were ousted by the fintech company

BharatPe had stripped Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain of all positions after a preliminary report of an external audit commissioned by the fintech firm's board showed that the duo indulged in alleged misdeeds and financial irregularities. The firing is based on a 24 January report by Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) submitted to the BharatPe board.

BharatPe constituted a review committee in January to look into some alleged financial irregularities and governance lapses in the three-year-old fintech firm.

A&M's preliminary report highlighted two egregious instances of fraud at BharatPe—irregularities in recruitment and paying non-existent vendors. Jain, who had headed BharatPe's procurement, admin and HR departments since 2018, is allegedly linked to both the fraudulent schemes.

GST officials have since last year been investigating the books of BharatPe for alleged issuance of invoices without any actual supply of goods and the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) in October last year had conducted a search operation at the fintech firm's head office.

"The original GST evasion case pertained to issuance of fake invoice without any actual supply of goods. Following the recent allegations against Madhuri Jain, we are now looking into the fake invoice issuance without any actual service," the official told PTI.

The GST investigation officers are looking into the books of accounts of BharatPe, which was founded in April 2018, and would arrive at a definitive conclusion on tax evasion in a fortnight's time, the official added.

GST law allows taxmen to probe the books of accounts of any company of last five years.