WASHINGTON, 22 December 2006 — A civil lawsuit against the former business manager of the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., one of the area’s largest and most prominent mosques, has been dismissed by a federal judge in Alexandria.

The dismissal comes as the former business manager, Farzad Darui, is facing criminal charges that outlines most of the same allegations made by the mosque officials in the civil suit.

A federal criminal complaint filed against Darui in October accused him of defrauding the center of at least $374,000.

The Islamic center, located in downtown Washington on Embassy Row, sued Darui in September, saying he had altered the names of payees on checks intended for legitimate vendors, primarily insurance companies, and substituted his own companies’ names. The lawsuit claimed his embezzlement began in about 2000 and continued until he was suspended in September.

Darui, 46, of Falls Church, Virginia, has worked at the center since 1984, when he was head of security, according to the lawsuit filed against him. He became responsible for the center’s bookkeeping after accusing the then-bookkeeper of being involved in a scheme to defraud the organization, the suit says.

Robert P. Watkins, an attorney for the center, declined to speak to reporters on the reason for the civil lawsuit’s dismissal, but said the case hasn’t been thrown out of court.

The criminal charge — one count of mail fraud — was filed against Darui on Oct. 12 in US District Court in the District. In an affidavit filed with the complaint, FBI agent Brian L. Crews wrote that Darui was responsible for writing checks to vendors and creditors and presented the checks for approval to the center’s director.

But instead of sending payment to the vendors and creditors, Darui is said to have altered the payee line of the signed checks and substituted the names of companies he owned or controlled.

Darui was released on his personal recognizance and has not entered a plea. A status hearing in the criminal case is scheduled for Jan. 18.

Dedicated in 1957, the Islamic Center is the District’s oldest mosque and serves thousands of local Muslims each month. The center is overseen by a board of governors that mostly consists of ambassadors from Islamic countries.