BK owners face 11 charges
Published 10:21 pm Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The owner of two Suffolk Burger King restaurants faces 11 charges of failing to pay meals taxes, according to city officials.
Samina Azhar, who was arrested earlier this month at her Smithfield home on similar charges filed in Franklin, faces five charges related to her Harbour View store and six related to the one she operated in Bennett’s Creek, Andrew Tasch, a compliance manager with the Suffolk Treasurer’s office, said Monday.
Azhar Holdings, which operated Burger King franchises in Suffolk, Franklin, Smithfield, Windsor and Chesapeake, owes more than $46,000 in meals taxes to the city of Suffolk, Tasch told a reporter from The Tidewater News in Franklin.
Of that total, $23,100 was owed from the Harbour View location and $23,800 from the Bennett’s Creek location.
Azhar had been expected to appear in Franklin’s General District Court on Monday, but that hearing was rescheduled for Feb. 2.
She has been charged with 11 felony charges in Franklin and owes that city more than $64,000 in meals taxes, according to Franklin City Attorney Taylor Williams.
Azhar also faces two misdemeanor charges of failing to pay meals taxes in Chesapeake, which has won a judgment for civil action in General District Court in the amount of $6,397.09, representing meals tax revenue owed from July and August.
In September, prior to the closure of Azhar’s restaurants, Suffolk City Treasurer Ron Williams and city sheriff’s deputies showed up at the two Suffolk locations and seized the contents of cash registers and safes at the two restaurants.