Owner of Columbia’s Obama gas station arrested on tax evasion charges

State authorities arrested the owner of the Obama gas station in Columbia on Tuesday on tax evasion charges.

Murad A. Alhanik, 39, is facing four counts of tax evasion. He is being held at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center, according to jail records.

The S.C. Department of Revenue accused Alhanik of filing sales tax returns totaling $971,935 in gross sales, when his actual saless were $2.6 million, according to an agency news release. Because of the under-reported sales, Alhanik evaded paying more than $136,000 in sales taxes over a period of four years, the release stated.

Each tax evasion count carries fines of up to $10,000 and-or up to five years in prison.

This story was originally published January 9, 2018 at 10:52 AM with the headline "Owner of Columbia’s Obama gas station arrested on tax evasion charges."