Immigrant was paid only £4 an hour to run restaurant kitchen

Man placed on electronic tag for six months after paying his chef just over half the minimum wage

A restaurateur who “exploited” a failed asylum seeker to run his kitchen – paying him just £4 an hour for a 72-hour week – avoided jail yesterday.

Habibur Chowdhury ran the highlyrated Ashiana restaurant in Dundee’s West End which was raided in June last year following a tip-off about illegal immigrants working in the establishment.

It later emerged Chowdhury was paying chef Mohammed Manik – a Bangladeshi national – just over half the minimum wage.

The businessman was branded “arrogant” by a sheriff – but avoided a jail term and was instead placed on an electronic tag for six months.

Chowdhury’s lawyer said he had been “wilfully blind” and “never checked” Mr Manik’s paperwork.

Mr Manik told Home Office investigators he “felt exploited by Chowdhury because of his immigration status”.

Chowdhury, who has previous convictions under the Bankruptcy Act, the Rent Scotland Act and for leasing a house of multiple occupancy without a licence, later told police he had nothing to do with the restaurant and claimed not to know who Mr Manik was.

Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: “As a result of intelligence received by the Home Office the Ashiana restaurant was raided on June 25 last year.

“Checks showed Mohammed Manik didn’t have leave to remain or work and he was arrested, taken to police headquarters and subsequently to Dungavel detention centre.

“He was then deported to Bangladesh two weeks later. The accused was traced and said he was in charge.

“However, in a later police interview he claimed he was only there at the time because he was meeting someone and had no role in the company.

“Statements were taken from workers there and they said the accused was responsible for recruiting new employees, that he was always there, that he paid the wages.

“Mr Manik was interviewed and said he had applied for asylum but had been refused.

“He couldn’t support himself and was living in Glasgow.

“He explained his predicament to a friend who put him in touch with the accused who offered him a job in Dundee.

“He was paid £300 a week regardless of how much he worked.

“He said there were only two people working in the kitchen and that he felt he had been exploited by the accused due to his immigration status.”

Chowdhury, 60, of Alford Gardens, Dundee, pleaded guilty to a charge of employing someone who had not been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK.

Defence advocate James Macdonald said: “He says the restaurant was open from 11am til 11pm but closed between 2pm and 5pm so he paid him for eight hours.”

Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a restriction of liberty order confining Chowdhury to his home address from 7pm til 7am every day for six months, and forcing him to wear an electronic tag to monitor his whereabouts.

Habibur Chowdhury was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court.