Press release: Restaurant boss banned after company hired illegal worker

Shui Ping Lee, also known as David Lee and David Shui Ping Lee, was the sole director of Goodwin Ichiban Limited (Goodwin). The company was incorporated in June 2011 and traded as Ichiban Noodle café and Ichiban Fusion from 184 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow.

In January 2017, Home Office Immigration Enforcement requested evidence of the document checks made in respect of an employee. As a result of that check, on 9 February 2017 Goodwin Ichiban was fined £15,000 for employing an illegal worker.

However, the company was unable to pay the fine and was placed into liquidation in October 2017.

Following the conclusion of the liquidation, the Insolvency Service investigated the company’s failure and on 31 May 2018, the Secretary of State accepted a disqualification undertaking from Shui Ping Lee after he admitted that the company had employed an illegal worker.

Shui Ping Lee, 55 from Glasgow, is disqualified from acting as a director of a company for three-and-a-half years – effective from 21 June 2018.

Commenting on the ban, Dave Elliot, lead investigator at the Insolvency Service, said:

Illegal workers are not protected under employment law, and as well as cheating legitimate job seekers out of employment opportunities, these employers don’t ensure appropriate tax is paid, and as a result can undercut honest competitors.

This should serve as a warning to other directors who may feel tempted to break the law. “Immigration laws make 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 showing that a person is entitled to work in the UK.

Notes to editors

Sui Ping Lee is of Glasgow and his date of birth is September 1962.

Company Goodwin Ichiban Ltd (Company Reg no. 07653106) was incorporated on 1 June 2011 and was placed into creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 2 October 2017.

Mr Lee signed an undertaking on 28 May 2018, which was accepted by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy on 31 May 2018.

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

• act as a director of a company
• take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion, formation or management of a company or limited liability partnership
• be a receiver of a company’s property

Disqualification undertakings are the administrative equivalent of a disqualification order but do not involve court proceedings.

Persons subject to a disqualification order are bound by a range of other restrictions.

The Insolvency Service administers the insolvency regime, investigating all compulsory liquidations and individual insolvencies (bankruptcies) through the Official Receiver to establish why they became insolvent. It may also use powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK. In addition, the agency deals with disqualification of directors in corporate failures, assesses and pays statutory entitlement to redundancy payments when an employer cannot or will not pay employees, provides banking and investment services for bankruptcy and liquidation estate funds and advises ministers and other government departments on insolvency law and practice.

Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 7674 6910 or 020 7596 6187

You can also follow the Insolvency Service on: