The director of an Indian restaurant received a 6 year ban for recruiting two illegal workers
Some of the most common reasons for director disqualification include: failing to file accounts and returns with Companies House, failing to pay taxes, failing to keep proper accounting records, trading whilst insolvent, bounce back loan fraud and the misuse of funds. But there are others. In this recent case study, we look at a case where an Indian restaurant director was banned for 6 years for employing illegal workers.
The details of this director disqualification case
Mohammed Miah, the director of the restaurant called iNaga in West Wickham, had employed two workers who were discovered to be illegal when the premises was raided by Immigration Enforcement in February 2023.
Mr Miah had employed the two workers without conducting checks that they had the right to work in the UK.
Immigration Enforcement fined the company £20,000 but the penalty remained unpaid when iNaga went into liquidation in June 2023 with liabilities of more than £75,000, which triggered an Insolvency Service investigation. The outcome being that Mr Miah accepted a director disqualification undertaking on 17th September 2024.
Kevin Read, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:
“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.
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.”
Contact us if threatened with Director Disqualification
There was probably no other outcome for this director, in what looks a very clear-cut case.
However, as Director Disqualification solicitors, we regularly represent directors who are being investigated by the Insolvency Service for Director Disqualification, and we have a strong track record in persuading the IS to drop their investigations, where there is enough evidence to support the Directors.
Every case turns on its own specific facts. We have experience of successfully representing Directors in this specific circumstance. Take a look at some of our testimonials.
Contact us for an initial free of charge discussion if you are being investigated by the Insolvency Service. The sooner we are instructed, the more we can do to help.
In our experience, only the Director knows what truly went on in a liquidated company. The Insolvency Service (like the Liquidator) are strangers to such events. The Director must tell his/her story in the most compelling way to get the best possible result.
Often, he/she will need expert advice from Solicitors experienced in Director Disqualification and insolvency work, as NDP is, to do that. Above all, we find it is important to remind the IS that companies can and do fail in the absence of delinquent behaviour, and it should not always be presumed that there has been unfit conduct by the Directors.
