GOOGLE*OLDHAMCOUNCIL Councillor Azad, Oldham Central Mosque, and (inset) the industrial estate where illegal workers were

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Montaz Ali Azad, a Labour councillor on Oldham Council and trustee of the charity which runs Oldham Central Masjid and Islamic Centre, was caught by Home Office immigration officers employing three illegal workers at his industrial laundry firm in Ashton-under-Lyne in Tameside, Greater Manchester. The employees did not have correct immigration papers and had not been registered with the tax man. Investigators from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit and the Insolvency Ser5vice found that Azad failed to ensure his limited company Eurolinen UK Ltd correctly operated a Pay As You Earn Scheme, by failing to declare the workers to HMRC and accounting to the tax man for any deductions made from their wages.

OLDHAMCOUNCIL Councillor Azad in his picture on the council website.

The 53-year-old politician from Oldham has received the ban, which stops him acting as a company director for the duration, following a three-year investigation. The probe found he failed to ensure that Eurolinen UK Ltd complied with its statutory obligations under immigration laws. The breach was discovered following a visit from Home Office Immigration Officers on 27 September 27 2013. His firm was hit with a civil penalty of £15,000 from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit, and did not object or appeal against it.

However, the business made no payments and it remained unpaid when Azad placed the business into liquidation on September 18 2014, owing a total of £105,367 to creditors, including £15,000 to the Home Office and more than £17,000 to HMRC. According to his register of interests at Oldham Council, his partner is a shareholder of the industrial laundry firm Marked Industries Ltd which set up in Oldham before Eurolinen UK Ltd folded. Companies House records show Shofina Bibi, 48, who lives with Azad owns 75 per cent of its shares. Azad was elected as a councillor to the Coldhurst ward in May 2011 and has served on the licensing and planning committees and Oldham District Partnership.

Taking on staff illegally means those staff do not enjoy basic employment rights and is a clear breach of a director’s duties. Robert Clarke, group leader of the Insolvency Service Insolvent Investigations North section

Azad signed a disqualification undertaking, which was accepted by the Home Secretary Amber Rudde on 17 August 2016. It bans him from being a company director and from being involved in the management of a limited company in any way for a period of six years from September 7 this year. An Insolvency Service spokesman said: "Mr Azad also failed to ensure that the company correctly operated a Pay As You Earn Scheme, by failing to declare these employees to HMRC and accounting to HMRC for any deductions made from their wages." Robert Clarke, group leader of the Insolvency Service Insolvent Investigations North section, said: "The Insolvency Service rigorously pursues directors who break employment and immigration laws. "Taking on staff illegally means those staff do not enjoy basic employment rights and is a clear breach of a director’s duties.

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