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Press release
Warning on employing illegal workers as directors of 11 companies are disqualified
The director of a Reading-based butcher and the director of a company operating a café in Keighley, Yorkshire, have become the latest company directors to receive lengthy bans for employing illegal workers.
In all directors 11 separate businesses across the country have been disqualified recently, all of whom were already fined for employing illegal workers.
The disqualifications all follow investigations by the Insolvency Service.
The businesses include four restaurants, three butchers, a café, a clothing manufacturer and a petrol station.
They are based in Leicester, London, Newbury, Farnborugh, Reading, Slough, Keighley, West Yorkshire and Lincoln. Between them, they employed 39 illegal workers and were fined a total of £450,000 by the Home Office, which was not paid. Three of the companies have now entered into liquidation.
The Insolvency Service is working very closely with Home Office Immigration Enforcement to take action in cases where the company is still active and not subject to insolvency proceedings .
The 11 have been banned from being company directors or being involved in the management of companies for six years each.
The matters leading to all of the disqualifications are that the directors failed to ensure that the companies complied with statutory obligations under The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 to ensure that relevant immigration checks were completed and copy documents retained, resulting in the employment of illegal workers.
Following visits from Home Office Immigration, during which the breaches were discovered, the companies were issued with penalty notices ranging from £10,000 to £15,000 per worker, which remain unpaid.
All were directors of the companies and were in office at the time of the Home Office visit.
Commenting on the disqualification, Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
Employing illegal workers is not a victimless crime. These directors sought an unfair advantage over their competitors by employing people under the radar who were not entitled to work legally in the UK.
If a company is found to be employing illegal workers and not carrying out the checks they are required to by law, then the Insolvency Service will take action to remove the directors from the market place, regardless of whether the company is in Liquidation or not.
This action is a warning to other employers to seriously consider their duties and obligations.
The disqualified directors are:
- Kit Bing Cheung, director of Littleson Ltd, of Sutton, disqualified on 11 July 2016
- Shaik Miah, director of Ferndown Tandoori Ltd, of Christchurch, Dorset, disqualified on 12 August 2016
- Nazim Uddin, director of Best Buy London Ltd, of London, disqualified on 22 September 2016
- Shipa Ahmed, director of Mooncastle Ltd, of London, disqualified on 28 September 2016
- Sasi Kandasamy, director of SPK Retail Ltd, of Wakefield, disqualified on 29 September 2016
- Fardin Khan, director of Saweria Trading Ltd, of Brentford, disqualified on 6 October 2016
- Taher Taimus, director of Three Diamonds Newbury Ltd, of Newbury, disqualified on 12 October 2016
- Najaranabanu Mubarakhusein Ugharadar, director of Stylz Design UK Ltd, of Leicester, which entered into Liquidation on 13 July 2016, disqualified on 17 October 2016
- Muhammad Iqbal Chowdhury, director of Fresh Mint UK Ltd, of East Finchley, disqualified on 31 October 2016
- Mohammed Shabaz Ayub, director of Kenya Butchers Reading Limited, of Romford, disqualified on 5 December 2016
- Mr Aamir Khan, the director of a cafe company trading under the name ‘Café Aamir Khans’ in Keighley, West Yorkshire, of Shipley, disqualified on 9 December 2016
Notes to editors
Najaranabanu Mubarakhusein Ugharadar (date of birth: 31 January 1987), is of Leicester. Stylz Design UK Ltd was incorporated on 30 April 2013 under CRO number 08510681, with its registered office 109 Coleman Road, Leicester, LE5 4LE.
The company traded as a textile manufacturer, from premises at 93 Constance Road, Leicester, LE5 5DF.
On the 13 July 2016, the Company was placed into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation., wit liabilities of £120,861, which includes the Home Office penalty listed as £51,667. The total deficiency, including shareholders funds is £115,961.
On 17 October 2016 Najaranabanu Mubarakhusein Ugharadar entered into a voluntary undertaking not to act as a director for 6 years. His disqualification commenced on 7 November 2016.
Muhammad Iqbal Chowdhury (date of birth: 6 December 1979), is of Cumbria. Fresh Mint UK Ltd was incorporated on 12 November 2012 under CRO number 08296473, with its registered office at 72 Farnborough Road, Farnborough, GU14 6TH.
The company traded as restaurant with the trading name Paprika Indian Restaurant, from premises at the registered office address.
On 24 May 2016, the Company was placed into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation, with liabilities of £116,270, which includes the Home Office penalty of £75,000. The total deficiency, including shareholders funds is £116,356.
On 31 October 2016, Muhammad Iqbal Chowdhury entered into a voluntary undertaking not to act as a director for 6 years. His disqualification commenced on 21 November 2016.
Café Aamir Khans Limited (Company Registration No. 09267431) was incorporated on 16 October 2014 and traded from 37-39 Bradford Road, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD21 4BW.
Mr Aamir Khan (date of birth 6 February 1990) was the sole registered director from 16 October 2014, the date of incorporation, until liquidation.
The company went into liquidation on 23 October 2015. On 18 November 2016, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy accepted a Disqualification Undertaking from Mr Khan, effective from 9 December 2016, for six years.
All public enquiries concerning the affairs of Café Aamir Khans Limited should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 2nd Floor, 3 Piccadilly Place, London Road, Manchester, M1 3BN. Tel: 0161 234 8531 Email: piu.north@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.
A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:
- act as a director of a company
- take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
- be a receiver of a company’s property
Persons subject to a disqualification order are also bound by a range of other restrictions.
Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.
Further information on director disqualifications and restrictions is available.
The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency authorises and regulates the insolvency profession, deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.
Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.
All public enquiries concerning the affairs of the companies should be made to: Cheryl Lambert, Head of Outsourced Investigations, Investigations and Enforcement Services, The Insolvency Service, 3rd Floor, Abbey Orchard Street, London SW1P 2HT. Tel: 0207 596 6117. Email: Cheryl.Lambert@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.
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Published 26 December 2016