Family-run Chinese restaurant workers jailed for total of 20 years

21st April 2010, 12:26pm

Five people working in two Chinese buffet restaurants in Ipswich have been jailed for a combined total of 20 years after they were found guilty of “exploiting foreign workers to make large profits”.

Officers from Immigration found 20 illegal workers all of Chinese and Malaysian nationalities. The discovery was made when the Temptation Chinese Buffet and Lucky Star restaurants were raided.

Those convicted and jailed are:

Phing Woon Pun, the owner, was jailed for six years for "conspiring to facilitate a breach of the UK's immigration laws, conspiring to sell goods which infringe trademark and copyright, obtaining a £198,000 money transfer by deception and converting criminal property". He has a previous conviction for knowingly using illegal workers in Colchester in 2007.

Kim Tai Wong, wife of Pun, was jailed for 30 months after being found guilty of conspiring to facilitate a breach of the UK's immigration laws and converting criminal property.

Yung Fatt Pun and Siow Yin Pun, who are son and daughter of the owners, were jailed for four years and three years respectively.

Ai Vee Ong was jailed for four years for also conspiring to facilitate a breach of immigration law, conspiring to sell counterfeit goods and converting criminal property.

The judge said that with hard work and dedication the team of workers could have made a profit inside the law but instead, "you were all prepared to ignore the law and take any opportunity you could to make money".

He added: "I don't accept for a moment that you believed you were doing anything wrong. Not one of you can say you only committed a minor breach of the law."

All of the defendants, except Kim Tai Wong, were also banned from being company directors for 10 years.

Related Articles:

• 21 Apr 2010 - How to avoid illegal workers and penalties

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The Equaliser

28 April 2010 at 11:51pm

Very naughty!

Jim Buckles

19 August 2011 at 7:43pm

This family has been sentenced twice for the same crimes. The Judge has decided that they will lose their home, their possessions & their business & will be left destitute & homeless by having to pay £1m or face extra jail sentences.

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