Indian Restaurant Manager banned for hiring Illegal Workers

The manager of an Indian restaurant was banned from being a company director for five years after hiring two illegal workers.

Masoom Khan hired the pair before Immigration Enforcement officials raided the restaurant.

The 35-year-old from Erdington, Birmingham, hired the workers at Jalalabad Akbari Cuisine in Leominster, Herefordshire.

However, they did not have the right to work in the UK.

When the Indian restaurant was raided in June 2021, the workers were found to be from Bangladesh.

One told investigators he had worked at the restaurant for two months. The other had been working there since before the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was discovered that Khan had hired them without checking that they had the right to work in the UK, breaking the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Kevin Read, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

“This represents a serious breach of legislation and of the standards expected of company directors.

“As a result of this breach, he cannot be involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company in the UK until September 2029.”

Khan was the sole director of the restaurant, trading under the company name Jalalabad Leominster Limited, since October 2017.

Immigration Enforcement fined the company £20,000 but the penalty remained unpaid when Jalalabad went into liquidation in December 2021 with liabilities of more than £73,000.

Matthew Foster, the Home Office’s immigration compliance enforcement lead for the West Midlands, said:

“This longstanding investigation into illegal working in Herefordshire and the resulting penalty for Masoom Khan is a great example of collaborative working between government agencies to combat breaches in employment legislation.

“Employers have a responsibility to carry out thorough checks on individuals prior to employment to ensure that they have the right to work in the UK.

“A failure to do so may lead to further action being taken by the regulator.”

“I would like to thank our partners at the Insolvency Service for their help to secure this further sanction against this non-compliant employer.

“The Secretary of State for Business and Trade accepted a disqualification undertaking from Khan, and his five-year ban began on Tuesday, September 17.

“The disqualification prevents Khan from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.

“A restaurant continues to operate from the same address under a different company name. Khan is not a director of this company.”