The resounding success story of Han’s Cafe has ended in heartache with the management company going into liquidation amid unpaid tax, staff underpayments and claims of domestic violence.

Ian and Tram Hoang Han, who met in a Thai refugee camp, built Perth’s most successful chain of Asian restaurants — which at one stage had 20 cafes. Their success helped them buy a $4.7 million luxury mansion in Applecross.

A dozen franchised Han’s cafes still operate but the three owned by the founding couple, as well as their management company, have collapsed.

Their fourth cafe was sold when the Fair Work Ombudsman started legal action last July. There is no record of Mr or Mrs Han now owning a house in WA.

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Federal Court documents show their empire started to unravel after the ombudsman found they had underpaid 100 staff about $30,000 over two months in 2014. Further inquiry was limited by the lack of time and wage records.

Mrs Han did not deny that she failed to pay weekend penalties or maintain proper records but the mother-of-two said there were mitigating circumstances including the violence she suffered at the hands of her husband of 20 years.

Camera Icon Ian and Tram Han, pictured in 2004, built up a successful chain of Asian restaurants. Credit: WA News

She said he had physically and verbally abused her at home and work.

It led to her having hospital treatment and getting an interim violence restraining order against Mr Han, a survivor of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia. They split in September 2014. She said he went back to Asia in January 2015.

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Mrs Han said she had continued to suffer anxiety and depression and was heavily medicated during the investigation period.

The court was told that Mrs Han had told Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors that she would have to close her business if forced to pay weekend penalty rates, saying they were picking on her when a lot of Asian restaurants operated in the same way.

In her evidence she said Han’s Cafe Management Pty Ltd had gone into liquidation, while another entity called Han’s Cafe Pty Ltd was no longer trading and had a tax bill of $12,000. However, it was being paid by another entity called Han’s Investments, which receives $20,000 a month in franchise payments.

She offered to repay the workers, though some had left Australia.

Justice Michael Barker found she was not remorseful and had deliberately failed her obligations. He took her difficult personal circumstances into account but they did not adequately explain or mitigate her contraventions.

Han’s two corporate entities were fined $30,000 and Mrs Han was fined $7500.