A businesswoman who employed illegal immigrants at her Chinese restaurants has been ordered to surrender more than £700,000 in cash and assets under proceeds of crime laws.
Kwai Fun Li, 45, of Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, was initially fined £6,000 for hiring the workers between December 2009 and May 2010.
But in subsequent confiscation proceedings, a court found Li had benefited from her general criminal conduct to the tune of more than £1 million, prosecutors said.
She was hit with a confiscation order for £722,956 at Glasgow Sheriff Court today, following a three-day hearing in July. The seized money will now be ploughed back into community projects.
The case stems from an intelligence-led criminal investigation dubbed Operation Midstream, which looked at the employment of non-European Economic Area nationals within the UK.
Surveillance was carried out on Li and her business premises - the Kings Lodge Buffet Restaurants in Bishopbriggs and Glasgow - over around nine months in 2009 and 2010 and searches of the restaurants were ultimately carried out.
It was found Li had facilitated the staff members to be in the UK by providing them with employment, accommodation and food.
In June 2011, she pleaded guilty to two breaches of the 1971 Immigration Act and was later fined the four-figure sum.
The Crown Office said confiscation proceedings revealed she had benefited from her general criminal conduct to the sum of £1,064,094.
Assets totalling £722,956 were identified, including over £100,000 in a safety deposit box and jewellery and watches valued at over £30,000.
Li also held over £300,000 in bank accounts as well as interest in four properties.
She claimed that much of the jewellery and money was her mother's but the Sheriff found she was neither credible nor reliable and ordered that all her remaining assets be seized, the Crown Office said.
Solicitor General Lesley Thomson QC said: "Kwai Fun Li was prosecuted on a summary complaint, pled guilty and fined £6,000.
"Little more than 10 years ago, that would have been the end of the matter. However, the wide-ranging powers afforded to us by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 mean that such cases of 'criminal lifestyle' offending no longer conclude at conviction.
"Those convicted must now account for their unexplained income for a full six years before arrest, and their finances are scrutinised by a team of law enforcement financial analysts and Crown forensic accountants.
"Kwai Fun Li was found to be unable to provide a legitimate source for over £1,000,000 of her income over that time, and today a confiscation order has been made for the entirety of her remaining assets, totalling £722,956.88."
The Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Home Office were also involved in Operation Midstream.
Tony Erne, director of criminal investigations for the Home Office, said: "This is a good example of the joined up approach to tackling crime. Following on from the Home Office criminal investigation, the confiscation order issued in this case shows the seriousness of this crime.
"Not only did Kwai Fun Li knowingly try to flout immigration laws, she also preyed on vulnerable people desperate to remain in the UK illegally and she benefited from her criminal conduct to a significant degree."
Money recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act is invested by Scottish ministers through the CashBack for Communities programme. Since the programme began in 2007, more than £50 million has been invested or committed to sporting, cultural, educational and mentoring activities for young people.
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