Press release: Six year ban for Watford restaurant boss

Saiful Alam, the sole registered director of Nuha Limited, which traded as the Prince of Bengal, an Indian restaurant and takeaway on Langley Way in Watford, has been disqualified from acting as a company director for six years for causing the company to employ two illegal workers.

Saiful Alam’s disqualification follows collaboration between the Insolvency Service and Home Office Immigration Enforcement (HOIE).

On inspecting the premises of Nuha Limited in December 2014, HOIE officials found two illegal workers and imposed a penalty of £30,000.

Payment of the penalty was due by 21 April 2015 but Mr Alam 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 can not 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. We have worked closely in this case with our colleagues at the Home Office to achieve this disqualification.

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. If you fail to comply with your obligations the Insolvency Service will investigate and you run the risk of being removed from the business environment.

Saiful Alam, 46, was the sole registered director of Nuha Limited (CRO No. 05022502), which was incorporated in January 2004 and traded as an Indian Restaurant and Takeaway from Langley Way, Watford. His date of birth is 15 August 1970.

Mr Alam has been disqualified for a period of 6 years commencing from 31 January 2017.

One of the main purposes of the Company Directors Disqualification Act is to ensure that proper standards of conduct of company directors are maintained and to raise those standards where appropriate.

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.

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