Immigration cheat who owed £30,000 to Home Office poses with Theresa May and Richard Harrington

Saiful Alam, who owns the Prince of Bengal restaurant in Langley Way, was recently disqualified from being a company director for six years for employing two illegal workers.

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On inspecting the premises of Nuha Limited in December 2014, Home Office Immigration Enforcement officials found two illegal workers, slapping Alam with a penalty of £30,000.

Embarrassingly for the then Home Secretary, she was photographed alongside Alam and Conservative election candidate Richard Harrington just a month after the restaurant went into liquidation and with the owner still owing the full amount to Mrs May’s Home Office.

Payment of the penalty was due by 21 April 2015 but Mr Alam, 46, decided to place the company into liquidation before this and so the penalty remained unpaid.

At liquidation in March 2015, the company had a recorded deficiency in excess of £139,000. This included the £30,000 penalty imposed and a further £30,000 in unpaid VAT and other tax.

The disqualification means that Saiful Alam cannot be a director of a company whether directly or indirectly, or be involved in the management of a company in any way, for the duration of his disqualification unless he has permission from court.

Commenting on the disqualification, David Brooks, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: "The Insolvency Service rigorously pursues directors who fail to pay penalties imposed by the government for breaking employment and immigration laws. 

"The director sought to gain an unfair advantage over his competitors by employing individuals who did not have the right to work in the UK in breach of his duty as a director.

"The public has a right to expect that those who break the law will face the consequences. Running a limited company means you have statutory protections as well as obligations."