The former owner of two Indian restaurants in the Lake District could have made more than £1 million by employing illegal immigrants, a court has heard.

Shafiqul Haque – a 62-year-old Manchester businessman who owned the Tagore Restaurant in Ambleside and The Emperor of India in Windermere - was jailed for six months last September after admitting breaking immigration laws.

He has now completed that sentence but could still be made to pay back any profits he made from the offences he committed.

Haque, who was born in Bangladesh but has lived and worked in Britain for more than 30 years, was back at Carlisle Crown Court on Friday (April 27) for a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Barrister Jonathan Clarke, prosecuting on behalf of the UK Border Agency, alleged that he had benefited to the tune of £1.3 million by giving accommodation and jobs to people who should not even have been in this country.

Haque disputes that, and his barrister Brendon O’Leary successfully asked for the case to be adjourned to give him more time to gather evidence to prove that the true figure was much less.

Haque, who lives in Newbold, Rochdale, was arrested after UK Border Agency officials the staked out his restaurants in the summer of 2009.

He told investigators that as a devout muslim it was his duty to help other people from his homeland who were in need.

In September last year he was jailed for six months after pleading guilty to six charges of assisting unlawful immigration by providing employment and accommodation.

The court heard he had paid migrant workers little or nothing at all, though he did provide them with food and accommodation while they worked for him in his restaurants.

The UK Border Agency say he was able to increase his profits by avoiding the taxes and national insurance payments that other legitimate employers would have had to pay.

In court last week defence counsel Mr O’Leary admitted the case had been delayed by Haque’s decision late last year to sack the legal team which had represented him during the trial.

New solicitors took over in December, he said, and had not had enough time to consider what he described as “a complicated case”.

The judge, Recorder David Williams, accused Haque of delaying tactics.

“I have no doubt that there is an awful lot of foot dragging going on, let’s make no bones about it,” he said.

Haque will be back in court for an administrative hearing on August 10.

A full hearing to decide how much money Haque will have to hand over will begin on August 20.