Country club claims former employees embezzled

CHARLES TOWN - A Maryland country club has filed a suit against former employees of the club over money allegedly embezzled from the club.

Argyle Country Club, located in Silver Spring, Md., filed a suit March 19 in Jefferson Circuit Court against Sajjad Nazar Mahar, also known as Alli Maher, his wife, Farhana Maher and Imran Anwar Mughal.

This is the second case filed dealing with the same matter. A case against more defendants was filed in Maryland.

Alli Mahar was the former general manager of the club for six years before he was fired in September 2006. Imran Mughal was the club's former bartender and food and beverage manager before he resigned in September 2006.

The suit claims that around 2001, the Mahars, Mughal, Akinyemi Bamisaiye and Adetola Obasanya, Maryland residents, allegedly found a way to defraud the club, including a fraudulent payroll scheme. The suit also alleges the group purchased personal vehicles with the club money without the club's permission, and stole cash, vehicles, golf carts and equipment from the club.

According to the suit, the Mahars used the proceeds from "criminal enterprise" to improve, maintain and service the debt on a large farm in Jefferson County and used the proceeds to enter horse races and operate a horse farm.

During the same month, some of the allegedly stolen property, including several Ford trucks and landscaping equipment, was put up for cash sale to the public.

In an 18-count suit, filed by Martinsburg attorney Charles Printz, Argyle Country Club seeks compensatory and punitive damages to cover the allegedly fraudulent actions of the defendants.

The case has been assigned to Judge Thomas Steptoe.

Jefferson Circuit Court case number 07-C-90