Indian restaurant director banned for employing illegal workers in London

London: The director of an Indian restaurant in south-east London has been banned as a company director for six years after employing two illegal workers on his business premises.

Mohammed Miah was found to have hired the workers who came from Bangladesh and did not have the right to work in the UK.

The illegal workers were discovered by the UK’s Immigration Enforcement during a raid of the 36-year-old’s iNaga restaurant on Croydon Road in West Wickham last year and the UK’s Insolvency Service confirmed the directorship ban this week.

“Mohammed Miah employed two people who did not have the right to work in the UK, breaching immigration legislation and the standards we expect of company directors,” said Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service.

“His directorship ban means he cannot now be involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company in the UK until September 2030. We will continue to work with our partners at the Home Office to clamp down on rogue employers who fail to comply with their statutory obligations,” he said.

In the UK, eateries serving cuisine associated with countries in the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal, are often referred to as Indian restaurants.

Bangladeshi-origin Miah was the sole director of the restaurant, trading under the company name I Naga Zaal Ltd since July 2022. Immigration Enforcement carried out an operation at the restaurant in February 2023, finding two men in their 30s and 40s with no right to work in the UK.

One of the workers told investigators he had only very recently been working at the restaurant while the other said he had been employed for two months.

Miah was found to have employed them without conducting checks that they had the right to work in the UK.

David Tripp, the UK Home Office’s Immigration Compliance Enforcement lead for South London, said: “Business owners play an important role in ensuring the workers they employ have the right to work.

“It is clear Mohammed Miah failed to do so, which is why he can no longer operate as a company director. We’re dedicated to tackling illegal working as it undercuts honest employers and disadvantages legitimate job seekers.” Immigration Enforcement fined the company GBP 20,000 but the penalty remained unpaid when I Naga Zaal went into liquidation in June 2023, with liabilities of more than GBP 75,000.

UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds has since accepted a disqualification undertaking from Miah for his six-year ban to begin from September 17.

The disqualification prevents Miah 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, of which Miah is not a director. Individuals subject to a disqualification order or undertaking in the UK are bound by a range of restrictions in terms of employment.