A restaurateur "exploited" a failed asylum seeker, paying him just £4 an hour to run his kitchen 72 hours a week.

Habibur Chowdhury ran the highly-rated Ashiana restaurant in Dundee, which was raided in June last year following a tip-off about illegal immigrants working in the establishment.

It later emerged Chowdhury, 60, of Alford Gardens, Dundee, was paying chef Mohammed Manik - a Bangladeshi national - just over £4 per hour.

On Tuesday the businessman was branded "arrogant" by a sheriff, who put him on an electronic tag for six months.

Speaking last month Chowdhury said: "I feel that I am the victim here. I did not knowingly employs someone who was working illegally.

"I believed Manik was legally entitled to live and work in the UK. He told me he was just waiting for his papers to come through from the immigration office."

Chowdhury's lawyer said he had been "wilfully blind" and "never checked" Mr Manik's paperwork.

Mr Manik told Home Office investigators he "felt exploited by Chowdhury because of his immigration status".

Chowdhury, who has previously convictions under the Bankruptcy Act, the Rent Scotland Act and for leasing a house of multiple occupancy without a licence, later told police he had nothing to do with the restaurant and claimed not to know who Mr Manik was.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "As a result of intelligence received by the Home Office the Ashiana restaurant was raided on June 25 last year.

"Checks showed Mohammed Manik didn't have leave to remain or work and he was arrested, taken to police headquarters and subsequently to Dungavel detention centre.

"He was then deported to Bangladesh two weeks later."

She continued: "The accused was traced and said he was in charge. However, in later police interview he claimed he was only there at the time because he was meeting someone and had no role in the company.

"Statements were taken from workers there and they said the accused was responsible for recruiting new employees, that he was always there, that he paid the wages.

"Mr Manik was interviewed and said he had applied for asylum but had been refused. He couldn't support himself and was living in Glasgow."

Ms Robertson added: "He explained his predicament to a friend who put him in touch with the accused who offered him a job in Dundee.

"He was paid cash, working six days a week, 12 hours a day. He was paid £300 a week regardless of how much he worked.

"He said there were only two people working in the kitchen and that he felt he had been exploited by the accused due to his immigration status. The previous employee had been paid £450 a week."

Chowdhury pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of employing someone who had not been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK.

Defence advocate James Macdonald said: "He says the restaurant was open from 11am til 11pm but closed between 2pm and 5pm so he paid him for eight hours.

"He was wilfully blind - he never checked the man's papers. He understands this offence will be regarded very seriously indeed."

Sheriff Alastair Brown imposed a restriction of liberty order confining Chowdhury to his home address from 7pm until 7am every day for six months, and forcing him to wear an electronic tag to monitor his whereabouts.

Mr Brown said: "It seems reasonably clear that the UK Government and a significant proportion of the UK public is exercised about immigration. The laws are there to protect the vulnerable.

"The picture I get from your record, this offence and your attitude to the social workers preparing reports in this case is of a man who regards regulatory rules with an arrogant attitude that they don't apply to him unless he so chooses."