Berkeley County Convenience Store Owner Charged With Tax Evasion

PICTURED: Naglaa Attwa (CREDIT: Charleston County Sheriff’s Office)

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. – South Carolina Department of Revenue agents arrested a Lowcountry convenience store owner and two store operators over a two-day span in two counties on a total of 16 tax-related charges.

Naglaa Attwa, 37, of Ladson, is the owner of Adam’s Market in Berkeley County and Zone Mart in Charleston County. She is charged with six counts of tax evasion and two counts of conspiracy.

According to an arrest affidavit, though Attwa is listed as the owner of the stores, she conspired with her co-defendants to conceal ownership of the business. She was the owner, the affidavit alleged, because “she was the only legal citizen” in the group and the only one without felonies, which could have prevented the stores from obtaining a license to sell alcohol. She was not involved in the operations other than to provide figures to her accountant that were sent to her.

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Also charged were Saif Tahat, 39, of Charleston, who operated Adam’s Market and is facing three counts of assisting in the false preparation of a return and one count of conspiracy; and Islam Moursy, 42, of North Charleston, who operated Zone Mart and is facing the same charges as Tahat.

PICTURED: Islam Moursy (CREDIT: Charleston County Sheriff’s Office)

From 2019 through 2021, according to arrest affidavits, Attwa and her co-conspirators reported a total of $959,842 for the stores in taxable income. But an investigation found sales actually totaled at least $2,595,032. The group, therefore, evaded at least $1,635,190 in taxable sales and owes at least $143,148 in Sales Tax.

If convicted, Attwa faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine per count of tax evasion. Tahat and Moursy each face five years in prison and/or $500 per count of assisting the false preparation of a return. All three face five years and/or $5,000 for each count of conspiracy.

Attwa is being held in the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center pending a bond hearing along with Moursy. Attwa was held last week in the Hill-Finklea Detention Center along with Tahat pending a bond hearing there.

The SCDOR is committed to the fair administration of tax laws. By taking enforcement action against noncompliant taxpayers, the Department seeks to prevent unfairly increasing the tax burden on those who do comply.