GZ Mosque developer submits doctored tax receipt, blames his staff for the mix-up

Sharif el-Gamal is at it again, trying to outwit his detractors. He owes $30,000 in back taxes to the city, and when pressed about this bill he produced a tax receipt which he claims showed he paid the tax. The fact is, the tax was paid AFTER he claimed it had been.

Next month, another 30K will be due, will el-Gamal pull a similar stunt?

From the New York Daily News October 19 by Erin Einhorn

Ground Zero mosque honcho provides shady proof of property

tax pay with doctored statements

The real estate developer who wants to put a mosque near Ground Zero tried to pull a fast one Tuesday about his property tax woes.

When the Daily News contacted developer Sharif el-Gamal about the $30,000 he owed the city in back property taxes for the future Islamic center in lower Manhattan, he insisted he had already taken care of it.

"The check was sent in," Gamal insisted to The News during an interview about 3:30 p.m. "The taxes have been paid."

Gamal was supposed to be making quarterly payments for a $224,000 tax bill his company had run up last year on the Park Place building.

But he missed a scheduled $30,000 payment that was due on Oct. 3.

When the Daily News asked for proof of payment, Gamal forwarded an email receipt from the city Finance Department's online payment system showing a $30,435.11 payment made on Oct. 5 at 1:54 p.m.

The email receipt Gamal forwarded had a receipt number of WWW23334165.

There was a problem, however.

The Finance Department says that payment was actually made yesterday at 3:55 p.m. - roughly half an hour after Gamal claimed he'd already paid.

The Finance Department sent over what they say is the real receipt, which had the same code number of WWW23334165.

It was dated Tuesday.

City officials say receipt numbers are sequential and that the one in question was issued Tuesday - not two weeks ago as Gamal claimed in his apparently doctored proof of payment.

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