Attorney General Kwame Raoul has announced charges against the owner and operator of four convenience stores in Central Illinois for allegedly defrauding the state out of more than $100,000 in sales tax revenue.
38 year old Surjit Singh of Clinton was charged yesterday in Sangamon County Circuit Court with 2 counts of theft of government property, 4 counts of sales tax evasion, 9 counts of filing fraudulent sales tax returns, and one count of forgery. In all, Singh could face between 2-30 years in prison on any of the charges.
Singh is the owner of four Central Illinois convenience stores: Pari Foods Inc. also known as the Clinton Pantry in Clinton, Lake Shore Stop LLC in Decatur, Chandlerville Food Inc. in Chandlerville, and Seeret Ayzel Inc. also known as the Winchester Food Mart in Winchester. According to Raoul, Singh failed to remit sales tax money collected from customers to the state of Illinois. In addition, Singh is alleged to have under-reported sales to the Illinois Department of Revenue, resulting in a criminal sales tax liability of more than $100,000 between the four stores.
The investigation was conducted by the Illinois Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Division. Deputy Bureau Chief Victor Turla and Assistant Attorney General Mansoor Broachwala are handling the case for Raoul’s Special Prosecutions Bureau.