A WISBECH restaurant is now facing a fine of up to �50,000 after it was caught employing illegal immigrants for the second time in less than a month. UK Border Agency officers visited The Moghul restaurant in North Street last Thursday and found two Bangl

A WISBECH restaurant is now facing a fine of up to �50,000 after it was caught employing illegal immigrants for the second time in less than a month.

UK Border Agency officers visited The Moghul restaurant in North Street last Thursday and found two Bangladeshi men who had no permission to work in the UK.

One, a 32-year-old who was working as a chef, was found to have used a counterfeit certificate of entry to get into the country.

The other, a 39-year-old working as a waiter, is an overstayer and one of three illegal immigrants encountered by officers on an visit on June 11 visit to the same restaurant when an on-the-spot penalty notice of up to �30,000 - �10,000 per illegal worker - was issued.

The waiter was warned at the time that he had no permission to work.

A further fine of up to �20,000 was served on the business on Thursday. To avoid the fine the business must prove that the correct right-to-work checks for employing workers from outside the European Union were carried out.

Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director, said: "This has potentially been a very expensive few weeks for the restaurant.

"It is in everyone's best interest, as well as being an employer's legal responsibility, to carry out the correct checks before employing someone from outside the European Union.

"Employers who don't play by the rules will get struck off our register, lose the right to recruit staff from outside Europe, face on the spot fines and could potentially end up in jail."

Arrangements are being made for the removal of both men from the UK as soon as possible.

A tough new civil penalty system was brought in last year to provide a fast and effective way of tackling bosses who fail to carry out proper checks on workers from outside Europe. A fine of up to �10,000 per worker can be imposed for every illegal worker found at a business.

Guidance for employers on preventing illegal working can be found on the UK Border Agency website, www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employingmigrants or by calling the UK Border Agency Employers Helpline on 0845 010 6677.

Anyone who suspects that illegal workers are being employed in Cambridgeshire should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where anonymity can be assured.