The owner of a former Turkish restaurant in Fenland has been banned as a company director for seven years after employing three illegal workers.

Ali Avlik, 35, hired three Turkish men at Pera Palace on Market Hill, Chatteris, without conducting pre-employment checks. None of the men had the right to work at the restaurant.

The illegal workers were discovered during an Immigration Enforcement visit in 2022.

Avlik was handed the disqualification order at the High Court in London earlier this month.

His directorship ban started on Tuesday November 26.

Dave Magrath, Director of Investigation and Enforcement Services at the Insolvency Service, said: "Illegal workers are among the most vulnerable people in society and should not have their status exploited by unscrupulous business owners.

"Employers are required to carry out their due diligence by ensuring that would-be employees are entitled to work in the UK.

"Ali Avlik clearly failed to do this which is why we have worked with our partners at the Home Office to ban him from being a company director for the next seven years."

Avlik was the sole director of Hupus Limited, which traded as Pera Palace, from November 2021 to his director ban.

Immigration Enforcement officials visited Pera Palace in November 2022 after receiving intelligence that illegal workers were at the restaurant.

READ MORE: Turkish restaurant that employed illegal workers loses licence

One of the workers attempted to flee through the fire exit while another returned to the kitchen, with officers noting he appeared incredibly nervous.

Two of the workers did not have the right to work in the UK. The other employee only had the right to work as a plumber in the UK and should not have been working at the restaurant.

The workers, aged in their twenties and thirties, claimed to have been working at the restaurant for two weeks and six months respectively.

One of the illegal workers said he had not been working there at all and was “merely helping” at the restaurant.

Hupus was fined £45,000 for the immigration breaches, which remains unpaid.

Fenland District Council also revoked Pera Palace’s premises licence in March 2023 as a result of Immigration Enforcement’s findings.

Pera Palace eventually closed later that year.

His Majesty’s Inspector, James Denham, from the Home Office’s Immigration Compliance Enforcement team in the East of England, said:

Illegal working undercuts honest employers, places vulnerable individuals at risk of exploitation and disadvantages legitimate job seekers.

It also impacts public finances as taxes are not paid by these businesses and workers, which is why tracking down unscrupulous employers is so important.  

We’re pleased to secure this director ban following an effective and close working relationship between the Home Office and the Insolvency Service.

Avlik’s disqualification order prevents him from becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company, without the permission of the court.