The director and operations manager of a Luton-based security firm have been ordered to pay more than £8400 after pleading guilty to supplying an unlicensed security guard, providing false information and failing to provide information to the SIA.
Ahmad Jaber was the director of AJ Security Consultancy Limited and Charles White was its operations manager. The company, based in Old Bedford Road, Luton, supplied guards to sites in the Luton area and in London.
Both men were investigated by the Security Industry Authority following an operation in December 2010, during which a man was detected working without an SIA licence at a demolition site in High Street Kensington. When questioned by the SIA, the man claimed that he was an unpaid volunteer.
The SIA launched a formal investigation and discovered that this individual was in fact working for AJ Security Consultancy Limited. He had completed 684 hours of paid work as a security guard, without holding the required SIA licence to carry out this role.
When Jaber and White were contacted by the SIA, both failed to provide information to the investigators about the site and gave false statements in an attempt to cover up the true nature of the work being carried out.
At Luton Magistrates’ Court on Monday [24 Oct], Jaber, 46, of Westlecote Gardens, Luton, pleaded guilty to one offence of supplying an unlicensed security guard, two counts of failing to provide information and two counts of providing false information to the SIA. He was fined £2,920 for the five offences (£760 for the first offence and £540 each for the other four), and was ordered to pay SIA costs of £2000 and a £15 victim surcharge.
White, 53, of Redgrave Gardens, Luton, pleaded guilty to one count of supplying an unlicensed security guard, one count of failing to provide information and two counts of providing false information to the SIA. He was fined £1,470 for the four offences (£465 for the first offence and £335 for the other three), and was ordered to pay SIA costs of £2000 and a £15 victim surcharge.
Jaber and White’s SIA licences have both been suspended, and are in the process of being revoked so that they will not be able to work in the security industry.
SIA Director of Compliance, Intelligence and Communication Dave Humphries said:
“I am pleased with the outcome of this investigation. AJ Security Consultancy Limited supplied an unlicensed individual and the director and operations manager allowed this to happen and then tried to cover up their actions by providing false information to the SIA. The conviction of Jaber and White demonstrates how seriously the court viewed these offences.
“We are now in the process of revoking Jaber and White’s SIA licences which means that they will no longer be able to have involvement in the private security industry and their security business could now face closure.”