Restaurant chiefs exploited staff brought from India, court told

Over a four-year period nine men were recruited to work at the Rajput Indian Restaurant in Cheltenham Parade, Harrogate, on the promise of good wages and working conditions, Christopher Tehrani, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

But after their arrival their passports and other documents were taken from them "and they were subjected to threats, sometimes verbal, sometimes physical", he said.

The ill treatment included very long working hours, usually 12 hours a day, seven days a week, less pay than they were promised or lack of medical treatment if they fell ill.

No national insurance number was applied for in any of the cases.

Mr Tehrani told the jury one of the men became so desperate he contacted his wife and she informed the authorities in India about what was happening. They then got in touch with officials in the UK.

Another man, Ghulam Mustafa, was so disturbed that he fled Harrogate and went to Bradford Police Station on January 8, 2008, while three more ran away in the early hours of August 13, 2008, and turned up at Huddersfield Police Station.

Parveen Khan, 55, her sons Raza, 33 and Shahnawaz, 30, of Green Lane, Harrogate, each deny conspiracy to traffic persons into the UK for the purpose of exploitation between December 3, 2004, and November 19, 2008.

Mr Tehrani said Parveen Khan had founded the restaurant in 1992 and told police she no longer had any real role in running it but the prosecution would say the evidence "paints another picture", that she was still involved in its management.

Her son Shahnawaz Khan, also known as Shaan, became a director of the company owning the Rajput in 2002 and told police he was the head chef and in charge of the kitchen.

He was allegedly involved in most of the recruitment while his brother Raza, also a director of the company, was in charge of the front of house and the finances. The workers would say they were never given wage slips, the court heard, while he told police they had been.

Mr Tehrani told the jury employers wanting to take on overseas nationals not from the European Community had to apply for a work permit for them and justify the need to fill that position.

One of the conditions of approval is that the person should get the pay and conditions equal to UK residents. If the work permit is granted, the individual then applies to the nearest consular office for a visa.

In 2004 a Pakistani chef Babar Hussain was asked if he would be interested in moving to the UK and when he agreed was allegedly phoned by Parveen Khan and offered a job.

The work permit applied for in his name indicated a gross salary of 10,500 plus 1100 worth of accommodation but in the first six months he was only paid between 100 to 400 a month. He arrived at Manchester Airport on 13 May, 2004 and was met by Shaan Khan who took him to the family home in Harrogate. His passport and work permit were taken from him for "safe keeping" and he was taken to a bungalow which he was told was staff quarters.

When he began work he found he was doing 14-hour shifts a day, ending in the early hours of the morning. He was called names such as "donkey face", a "dirty liar" and "son of a dog" by Parveen and Shaan Khan which as a Muslim he found insulting.

Another complainant Pankaj Gupta said he handed over 4,000 to ensure his work permit which was never returned.

The case continues.