See the migrant hotel kingpins running Britain’s ‘luxury’ taxpayer-funded asylum accommodation

Two businessmen, Safwan Adam and Bassam Gilini, have made a huge amount of money by winning government contracts to house asylum seekers across the UK.

Their company, Stay Belvedere Hotels Limited (SBHL), was paid hundreds of millions of pounds from public funds to provide accommodation during the migrant crisis.

However, the UK Home Office has now ended its contract with SBHL because of serious concerns about how the company was performing. Official records show that SBHL earned around £705 million in just one year, up to September 2022.

During that time, the company paid out £45 million in dividends to five shareholders, which included Adam and Gilini. Since each man owns 17.5% of the company, they each received at least £7.8 million.

Despite this, neither Adam nor Gilini had any real background in handling immigration-related housing before they took over the company in 2021. Adam is trained in aeronautical engineering and runs franchises of CeX electronics stores, along with an investment company. Gilini, who calls himself a “visionary” property developer, previously ran temporary fireworks shops and a sushi restaurant in East London. Adam has also donated over £760,000 to the Liberal Democrat Party, led by Sir Ed Davey.

SBHL worked under Clearsprings, a company that has a massive £2 billion annual deal with the Home Office to provide housing. SBHL even described one of its properties, the Ibis Budget hotel in Bishop’s Stortford, as “luxury accommodation” for asylum seekers.

But problems began to mount. The Home Office cancelled SBHL’s contract last month, saying there were serious issues with how the company operated.

There were reports that some staff were being paid below the minimum wage as little as £5.60 an hour in 2021. Hotel owners also said they had to chase the company for overdue payments related to housing asylum seekers.

Critics have spoken out strongly against how these companies have profited. Tim Naor Hilton, CEO of Refugee Action, said that every pound going into the pockets of such companies could have been better used to support local communities.

He added that asylum seekers are being put into poor-quality housing while the companies make millions from public money.

A spokesperson for Yvette Cooper’s Home Office said they are now working to fix the system, with fewer hotels being used now than before the election and more closures planned by the end of May.