Mohammad Shajahan, the director of an Indian restaurant in Romsey, has been disqualified for acting as a company director for seven years after he was found to employ illegal workers in his restaurant business.

The discovery came after Rose Garden (UK) Limited (Rose), trading under the name of Alresford Indian & Bangladeshi Restaurant, had an investigation by the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Officers on 9 March 2015. It found that five workers were illegally employed and not eligible to work in the UK.

On 25 April 2016, the company went into liquidation whilst owing £223,547 to creditors. Of this sum, £100,000 was the fine which was imposed by the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement.

Following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, it was concluded that Mr Shajahan failed to ensure that the company complied with immigration legislation and statutory obligations to ensure that relevant checks were completed. It also found that copy documents were retained, resulting in the illegal employing.

According to Robert Clarke, Chief Investigator at the Insolvency Service, “Illegal workers are not protected under employment law, and as well as cheating legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities these employers defraud the taxpayer and undercut honest competitors.

The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, makes employers responsible for preventing illegal workers in the UK. To comply with the law, a company must check and be able to prove documents have been checked prior to recruitment that show a person is entitled to work.”

The disqualification means that Mr Mohammad Shajahan is now unable to act as the director of a limited liability company, without specific permission from a court. He is also unable to participate in the formation, management or promotion of a company, or be the receiver of a company’s property.

The disqualification was given for a total of seven years, starting from 20 December 2016.

After an investigation by the Insolvency Service, the directors of Cleartrade Limited have been banned as company directors for a total of 43 years.

Mr Marcel McKeigue, Mr Graham Stephen Philip Hawrysh and Mr Carl Stuart Thornton sold voluntary emission reduction carbon credits (VERs) to members of the public that were completely worthless and had no investment potential. The VERs were sold by the company at highly inflated prices.

Cleartrade Limited was incorporated on 19 October 2011 and registered at a London address.

Teams within the Public Interest Unit got involved with Cleartrade Limited after an investigation by Company Investigations was passed onto the Insolvency Service.

They discovered that the company sold VERs to general members of the public between November 2011 and October 2012 as an investment and netted almost £1 million. However, the credits had no potential and the directors should’ve given this warning to investors showing an interest.

Disqualifications for all three men involved were given, with the penalty meaning that neither three parties will be able to manage, promote or become a director of a limited company until 2031.

Anthony Hannon, Official Receiver in the Public Interest Unit, says:

“This company’s claims about the profits to be made by buying its carbon credits were quite simply untrue and only the company and those working for it made money.

The lengthy periods of disqualification handed down in this case show that this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated by the Insolvency Service nor by the Court.”

The disqualification means that neither McKeigue, Hawrysh or Thornton are able to be the receiver of a company’s property, act as director or become involved with the formation, promotion or management of a limited liability partnership.

In this circumstance, the disqualification regime exists to protect members of the public who have the potential of being affected by the scam.

A financial advisor has been given a bankruptcy restriction order totalling 15 years after acting in the management of a company and being subject to a director’s ban of ten years.

Mr Stephen Benjamin James Todd was handed the restriction after breaching a bankruptcy order, whilst Registrar Christine Derrett expressed that the event was one of the worst examples of disregard to the Insolvency Service that she has witnessed.

On 8 October 2012, a year before the misconduct took place, Mr Todd had been disqualified as a consequence of his actions in a previous company. The disqualification meant that he was not permitted to act as the director of a limited company or take part in the promotion, management or formation of a company for ten years.

Some time after this on 29 April 2013, Mr Todd received a bankruptcy order and on 16 December the same year, his discharge from bankruptcy was suspended indefinitely.

However, he was found to act in the management of IPR Capital Limited after the disqualification was handed to him. On 8 February 2013, the company went into provisional liquidation and on 2 February two years later, IPR Capital Limited went into liquidation with liabilities of over £10 million.

The court also found that the financial advisor failed to disclose his income from IPR (at least £517,100 from 29 April 2013 to 15 April 2014) amongst other parties in his bankruptcy proceedings. Payments were found to be placed into his bank account from other parties, which totalled £59,904.

The financial advisor stated that he had assets with an approximate value of £8,880 to the Official Receiver, yet he was found to have liabilities of over £454,107 in April 2013. Of this sum, £363,607 was due as a result of unpaid self-assessment tax, penalties and National Insurance payments.

The new restriction order means that Mr Todd must disclose his status as a person subject to bankruptcy restrictions if he wishes to take out credit of over £500, and he is subsequently unable to act as an insolvency practitioner or take part in the management of a limited company.

The restriction is in place until 13 December 3031.