Chesapeake charges Burger King owner

Published 1:46 pm Wednesday, November 26, 2008

CHESAPEAKE – Details are emerging over additional charges that Chesapeake has filed against the owner of several shuttered Burger King restaurants in the region.

An employee with the Commissioner of the Revenue office in Chesapeake said Samina Azhar has been charged with two class 1 misdemeanors for failing to pay the city’s meals tax in September and October. The amount of tax revenue associated with those charges was not released.

Additionally, the revenue office employee said there has been a judgement for civil action in General District Court in Chesapeake in the amount of $6397.09, which is meals tax revenue from July and August.

Azhar, 54, was arrested at her Smithfield home over the weekend and released on $7,500 bond. Her first court appearance is scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday in General District Court.

Azhar faces 11 felony charges in Franklin – one for every month that the city’s meals tax went unpaid – and one misdemeanor charge of operating a business without a license. The total meals tax revenue due to Franklin is $64,521.28.

Azhar Holdings, LLC operated six Burger King franchises, one each in Franklin, Windsor, Chesapeake and Smithfield, and two in Suffolk. All of the restaurants closed on Oct. 24.