Restaurant owner ordered to hand over £130,000
CHINESE restaurant owner Chi Lain Chen, has been ordered to pay £130,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act after he was jailed for bringing illegal immigrants to the UK to work in his restaurant.
Mr Chen, 35, of The Royal Tea Garden Restaurant, in Bowness-on-Windermere, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court in February 2011 after he admitted facilitating foreign nationals to illegally come to the UK for work.
The UK Border Agency immigration crime team began investigating Mr Chen’s business in May 2009 after he was found to have illegal immigrants living and working in one of his restaurants. In total, more than ten illegal immigrants were found to be working illegally under his employment.
The restaurateur was arrested and charged with offences of facilitation and harbouring of persons not entitled to be present in the UK.
As part of the investigation an application was made under the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover assets linked to the immigration crime. It ordered Mr Chen to repay £130,000 last month.
Dave Magrath, head of North West UK Border Agency criminal financial investigation team, said the confiscation “sends out a strong message to those thinking of exploiting people and disregarding the law to make a profit”.
“We have specialist teams of immigration officers and police working to investigate cases just like this to ensure people are not able to benefit from breaking the UK’s immigration laws. We are determined to track down those involved and bring them to justice.
“Mr Chen has earned a considerable amount of money through the exploitation of his staff and by avoiding taxes and National Insurance payments. He will now have to repay this amount of cash or face a default sentence of an additional 27 months in custody.”
