AN Indian restaurant boss who employed illegal immigrants has been banned from being a company director.

Murad Ahmed, 42, has been handed a disqualification order by the Insolvency Service and Home Office Immigration Enforcement following a raid at the Tandoori Parlour, in Hart Road, Thundersley, in January 2014.

Immigration officers discovered five men from Bangladesh were working there illegally.

Two, aged 28 and 31, had entered Britain without permission; two, both 28, were working in breach of their visas; and one, 26, had overstayed his visa.

Ahmed, who operated the Tandoori Parlour under the company name City Restaurants Limited, will not be able to act as a company director or be involved in the management of a business for the next six years.

City Restaurants was formed in December 2007.

The company went into liquidation in March 2014, twomonths after the immigration raid, with a deficiency of more than £70,000.

This included £37,500 owed to the UK Border Agency for fines handed out for employing illegal workers.

Mark Bruce, a chief investigator with the Insolvency Service said: “The Insolvency Service rigorously pursues directorswho fail to pay fines imposed by the Government for breaking employment and immigration laws. We have worked closelywith our colleagues at the Home Office.

“Murad Ahmed sought 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 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, then the Insolvency Service will investigate you.”

At the time of the raid, staff at the Tandoori Parlour told the Echo all staff were hired through a London-based employment agency.

The restaurant, which has helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds for various local charities, remains open under newmanagement.