A RESTAURATEUR who was involved in a North Dorset eatery has been banned from senior company roles for five years after he hid his business’s true takings to avoid paying large amounts of tax.

Sadikur Rahman Chowdhury, 50 and from Kenilworth in Warwickshire, was the director of Simla Restaurant Ltd, incorporated in December 2002.

The company used to be the operator of Simla Tandoori in Blandford, which is now run by a different business.

Simla Restaurant Ltd entered into liquidation in August 2019 and this triggered an investigation by the Insolvency Service into Mr Chowdhury’s conduct.

Investigators uncovered that the business traded without issue until June 2008 when it was discovered that Mr Chowdhury had caused Simla Restaurant to submit inaccurate returns to the tax authorities.

Enquiries established that Mr Chowdhury owed more than £48,000 in VAT and almost £113,000 in Corporation Tax from 2009 to 2017.

It was found that Mr Chowdhury had under-declared sales to avoid paying the correct taxes and, at liquidation, owed the tax authorities more than £266,000. An additional penalty of over £104,000 was levied by the tax authorities for the under declaration of corporation tax.

On January 13, the Business Secretary accepted an undertaking from Sadikur Rahman Chowdhury banning him for five years after the director did not dispute he failed to ensure Simla Restaurant Limited had submitted accurate VAT returns from June 2008 and Corporation Tax returns from October 2009.

The disqualification commenced on February 3 and means he is banned from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Lawrence Zussman, deputy director of insolvent investigations at the Insolvency Service, said: “Sadikur Rahman Chowdhury suppressed the takings of his restaurant for almost eight years so that he could avoid paying the correct taxes.

“This director’s actions meant the public purse was deprived of the funds he should have been paying whilst benefitting from years of good sales. The Insolvency Service will not tolerate behaviour such as demonstrated by Sadikur Chowdhury and we have removed him from the business environment for five years.”