DILLON/MARION CO (WBTW) — Two businessmen were arrested Friday in unrelated cases and charged with tax evasion, according to the South Carolina Department of Revenue (SCDOR).
Rafat A Yed Abudayya, 42, of Lumberton, N.C., is charged with three counts of tax evasion. Abudayya owns two convenience stores and a liquor store in Dillon and Marion counties. He was doing business as ILL Corporation, SCDOR said.
SCDOR states that according to arrest warrants, Abudayya failed to pay $123,921 in sales tax for all three stores after under-reporting $1,770,314 in taxable sales between 2016 and 2018.
Mohamed Saleh Salah, 42, of Dillon, is charged with six counts of tax evasion. Salah owns four convenience stores in Dillon and Marion counties, Tall Pines Grocery and Tobacco House Corporation, SCDOR said. Salah failed to pay $270,178 in sales tax for all four stores after under-reporting $3,859,702 in taxable sales between 2016 and 2018, SCDOR said.
Abudayya and Salah each face a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and/or up to a $10,000 fine for each count, if convicted.
Both are being held in the Dillon County Detention Center awaiting bond hearings.
