Restaurant faces fine up to £50,000 for illegal workers

A Cambridgeshire restaurant is facing a fine of up to £50,000 after Border Agency officials found illegal immigrants working there for the second time in a month.

The Mogul restaurant, in Wisbech, was employing a 32-year-old chef and a 39-year-old waiter when investigators called on July 9. Both men were Bangladeshi. The waiter was found to be one of three illegal immigrants working there during an earlier raid on The Mogul on June 11.

Officers imposed an on-the-spot penalty notice totalling £30,000 after the June raid and a further fine of up to £20,000 has now been imposed. To avoid the fines the restaurant must prove that the correct right-to-work checks for employing workers from outside the European Union were carried out.

Agency officials say that none of the men had permission to work in the UK.

The law states that a fine of up to £10,000 can now be imposed for every illegal worker found in any business.

Border Agency regional director, Gail Adams, said: "This has potentially been a very expensive few weeks for this restaurant."

The Mogul restaurant, which is currently still trading, declined to comment.

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By Roger Bushby

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