LEWISTON – This time, it was a conflict with the tax man, not scratches in the glass, that closed Harun Sheekhey’s Cleopatra.

“They told me I no longer have the right to operate and I must close down,” Sheekhey said. “But how am I supposed to pay them what I owe if they don’t let me operate?”

Sheekhey admits he owes as much as $5,000 in back sales taxes to the state Revenue Service. Some comes from his Lisbon Street restaurant, but much of it comes from a restaurant he operated in Portland more than a year ago.

Sheekhey closed his Lisbon Street restaurant this summer after vandals scratched long swoops and swastikas in all of his plate glass windows. He got the glass replaced and installed a security camera. He reopened his doors last month during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Muslims fast during that month, so there was little demand for Somali food. Ramadan ended last week, and Sheekhey said that’s when he officially reopened.

“I was starting to get back,” he said. “I have a lot that I owe. Even when I was closed, I still had to pay rent and pay electricity for the building.”

He learned about the back sales taxes two weeks ago, and paid $300. He offered to pay another $300 this week but says the state would not accept it, demanding a minimum of $1,000 per week. “I know many people who own restaurants who owe much more than that and they are allowed to pay it off,” Sheekhey said. “But the state won’t let me.”

Errol Dearborn, director of compliance for the Maine Revenue Service, said he could not discuss Sheekhey’s case without written, notarized permission from Sheekhey. He confirmed that his staff did revoke the restaurant’s seller registration Tuesday, however.

“But it’s not our intent to close businesses,” he said. “As long as the person is willing to work in good faith and pay, depending on their history, we will work with them.”