Seven more restaurant bosses and a supermarket owner in North Yorkshire, Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Norfolk and London have been disqualified as company directors for employing illegal workers as waiters, cooks and butchers in breach of UK immigration rules. The eight directors, who had employed 22 illegal immigrants in Scarborough, Calne, Worcester, Norwich and London, were disqualified for a combined 47 years.
Among the disqualified directors was Abdulall Jamil, aged 24, who ran the Surma Town Cash and Carry at 18 Bigland Street, Shadwell, E1 2ND. He was the sole director of Surma Town Ltd, which had the company number 07740361. Surma Town Limited went into liquidation on 12 December 2013 and Mr Jamil has been disqualified from being a company director for six years, commencing on 19th January this year.
The recent disqualifications bring to 16 the number of directors banned in the last nine months for immigration offences following collaboration between the Insolvency Service and Home Office Immigration Enforcement. The 16 directors, aged 22- 59, had collectively employed 52 illegal workers who were caught during intelligence-led Home Office enforcement operations.
Company directors may be disqualified under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 if their conduct falls below accepted standards. A disqualification order can be made by a court in proceedings brought under the Act. The members of limited liability partnerships (“LLPs”) are also covered by the Act, in the same way as company directors.
The two major consequences of a disqualification order are that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot act as a director of a company or take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership. In addition many other restrictions are placed on disqualified directors by other regulations.
•Further information on director disqualifications and restrictions can be found at: http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/Companies/insolvent-companies/director-disqualification-and-other-action